To do so, we take an interdisciplinary and systemic approach to food security, centering on indigenous and immigrant farming and food practices in the US and Mexico and their capacity to support and inform sustainable food production and consumption in the face of economic and environmental pressures. We address important knowledge gaps regarding our ability to feed the world sustainably and equitably and provide a unique opportunity for Latinx students to enter food and agricultural sciences in culturally engaging ways that value and build on their collective experiences and knowledge to develop solutions for food security and sustainability.

We offer scholarships to allow undergraduate and graduate students to participate in a new team-taught course entitled Transnational Approaches to Sustainable Food Futures, meet key food system actors at our public colloquium series, join summer internships in Baja California, Oaxaca, and San Diego, and engage in research with faculty and peers. We provide a near-peer-mentoring program to support students throughout these activities and a pipe-line program to recruit students from our local partner, Mesa College.

Our Team

An Interdisciplinary Team

of Faculty and

Community Partners

High-Impact Learning

Opportunities

Classes,

Internships,

and Colloquium Series

Scholarships & Funding

Supporting

Undergraduate and

Graduate Students

Research

Faculty-Mentored

Research

MARCH 5, 2024

BFF Colloquium Series: Ilaria Tabusso Marcyan, The Cultural Roots of Slow Food: Traditional Food Cultures, Grassroots Movements, and Sustainability in Italy. Peterson Gym 242, 2 to 3:15pm.

MARCH 6, 2024

BFF Colloquium Series: Ilaria Tabusso Marcyan, Food Justice and Sustainable Farming: Slow Food in Italy, Europe and Beyond. AL 102, 4 to 5pm.

PDs Flores-Renteria, Joassart-Marcelli and Liu present our curricular innovations at the SDSU Sustainability Summit. See video (from 1:00 to 13:00)

San Diego Business Journal: Project Partner Mesa College “puts its best Ag forward in a nationwide challenge” under the mentoring of co-PD Ray.

View 10/18/23 Info Session Slides here

Baja California, Mexico

May 24 to 31, 2024

Kumeyaay Ethnobotany (Dr. Lluvia Flores Renteria)

Travel to a Baja California tribal community to learn the ethnobotany of Kumeyaay people. Learn how to harvest, process, cook and use native plants and explore their potential for sustainability. Students will create a Story Map as their final project.

Oaxaca, Mexico

2023-24

funding Cycle open

Apply now!

We are offering ten stipends of $2,000 for the 2023-24 academic year. These are open to SDSU undergraduate and graduate students from any majors.

The purpose of the program is to provide undergraduate and graduate students financial stipends to support their participation in:

• our new interdisciplinary course entitled “Binational Approaches to Sustainable Food Futures” (CAL 400 or Special Studies for graduate students)
  
• one or more of our bi-national summer internships (San Diego, CA; Baja California, Mexico; Oaxaca, Mexico)
  
• the Better Food Future colloquium series
  
• undergraduate and graduate research experiences.
  

Awardees will join a network of near-peer mentors who will support them throughout this educational experience.

Applications have been extended for students enrolled in CAL 400 until March 1, 2023.

We offer stipends for up to 4 master ($14,000 per year) and 3 doctoral ($28,000 per year) students interested in studying food security and sustainability in the border region, particularly as they relate to the food and agricultural practices of immigrants and Indigenous people. Please see our research tab for more information.

You must be currently enrolled or admitted in a related SDSU graduate program to be eligible for the stipend. You may apply for the stipend at the same time as you apply for a relevant graduate program.

Tuition waiver and additional support may be available on a competitive basis.

Please contact potential graduate advisors for additional information, including the following:

• Anthropology (MA), Latin American Studies (MA, MA/MBA, MA/MPA), and Public Health (MA/MPH, JDP in Global Health): Ramona Pérez
  
• Biology (MA, MS, PhD), Ecology (PhD): Lluvia Flores-Rentería
  
• Chemistry and Biochemistry (MA, MS): John Love
  
• Geography (MA, MS, PhD): Pascale Joassart-Marcelli
  
• Nutritional Sciences (MS): Changqi Liu

Applications are due on February 29, 2024

We provide funding to allow 5 Mesa College Students to take our CAL 400: Binational Approaches to Sustainable Food Systems. The $485 stipend covers registration fees and transportation costs. Students are expected to register through the SDSU Cross Enrollment Program.

Contact Prof. Waverly Ray (wray@sdccd.edu) for information and to apply.

Students involved in this project will have the opportunity to participate in research under the mentorship of faculty on our project’s team.

Collectively, our research focuses on food security and sustainability broadly defined, with areas of interest including environmental, social, cultural, and economic issues and their interactions. Specific expertise of our team members are illustrated in the figure below:

Students are encouraged to participate in research through our CAL 400 team-taught course (which exposes them to these topics and prepare them for further research), our summer internships, and subsequent tailored mentoring experiences with team members. See programs and funding.

Details about specific research projects can be found on the research page of the Center for Better Food Futures’ website.