rlicker@wisc.edu
Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1710 University Ave., Room 287
608-890-0337
608-265-4113fax

Rachel is a Ph.D. student in Land Resources under the advisement of Jon Foley. She is interested in the interactions between human and environmental systems, as well as in how environmental systems function across different spatial scales. For her dissertation research, Rachel is working to classify and compare different agricultural systems across the world based off of their cropping patterns and management practices, as well as their biophysical and social characteristics. Through this Rachel hopes to, for example, investigate the trade-offs that exist in different agricultural systems with regard to environmental and social sustainability. She is carrying out this work through a NASA Earth Science Enterprise Interdisciplinary Science Program (EOS-IDS) grant.

Prior to her graduate studies at SAGE, Rachel completed a Master's degree in environmental science at Lund University in Sweden. For her Master's thesis, she collaborated with Gemma Narisma and Jon Foley on a project that looked at the human and ecological consequences of recent abrupt climatic changes.

In 2004, Rachel received her Bachelor's degree in biology and a certificate in environmental studies from UW-Madison. While an undergraduate, she participated in research projects through both UW's Wildlife Ecology Department, as well as the Department of Landscape Architecture. Rachel was awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Network for Environmental Management Studies fellowship in both 2003 and 2004, which afforded her the opportunity to carry out work at the EPA's regional offices in Manhattan on a project supporting the restoration of Vieques Island, a former U.S. weapons training facility, and subsequently at the EPA's Atlantic Ecology Division in Narragansett, Rhode Island where she studied the common loon population of New Hampshire.

When not in the office, Rachel enjoys being active outdoors, working with social advocacy organizations in her local community, creating art, live music, and exploring the world.