Join us for a dynamic panel exploring the intersections of rural landscapes, aquaponics, and community-based food systems. This session will highlight innovative approaches to growing food, stewarding land, and building resilient rural communities. Panelists will share insights from their work across rural and urban contexts, discuss challenges and opportunities in rural landscapes and sustainable food production, and invite dialogue on how design, science, and social practice can shape the future of the landscape. Whether you're a grower, educator, student, or simply curious, this conversation will offer inspiration and practical ideas for cultivating change.
Learning objectives:
- Describe key concepts and practices in agricultural landscape design, aquaponics systems, and community-based food systems.
- Identify opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration in rural and agricultural landscape systems, including design, science, and social engagement.
- Evaluate the ecological, social, and economic impacts of emerging practices in rural landscapes and agricultural systems.
Instructor information:
Natasha Bell | The Bell Lab focuses on the development of resilient best management practices that inform decision-making and policies within the water-energy-food nexus. Specifically, our research investigates the efficacy of and biogeochemical processes underlying ecological engineered treatment technologies, including constructed wetlands and subsurface bioreactors, to remediate agricultural pollutants, municipal and onsite wastewater, and stormwater.
Specific ongoing research projects include: investigating traditional and innovative stormwater best management practices to reduce contaminants of emerging concern in socioeconomically disadvantaged coastal communities; assessing the current state of drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as needs and gaps, within the Appalachian Region; expanding the aquaponics industry in Virginia through interdisciplinary collaborations for climate-smart agriculture growth.
Lindsay Burnette | Lindsay's teaching, professional work, and academic research are focused on cultural landscapes, resilient design, and community-centered development. Lindsay is passionate about design in rural areas, and in 2020 she co-founded the Rural Futures Collaborative to bring together communities, designers, and their collaborators around rural issues. Her current body of research involves employing speculative design methodologies for rural, community-based projects aimed at innovative climate solutions.
While completing her Masters of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, Lindsay was awarded an ASLA Honor Award, the Narendra Juneja Medal, and a Van Alen Travel Fellowship to study rural refugee resettlement in Southern Italy. Lindsay was a 2014-2015 Fulbright Research Scholar in South Korea and an Americorps service member in Portland, Oregon. She is currently a board member of the Refugee Collective in Austin, TX, where she is part of a team creating a carbon farm plan and developing a refugee-centered fibershed. In 2024-2025, Lindsay received a CSU School of Global and Environmental Sustainability Resident Fellowship for her research on the future of agriculture in Colorado.
Josh Dusci | In 2016 Joshua began his journey within the aquaponics industry after learning about the countless benefits aquaponics could provide for humans. Upon this discovery, he immediately replaced the T.V. in his apartment with a fish tank that was coupled to a small hydroponic loop. Since then Joshua has not looked back and has gained over 5 years of research experience, earning his masters degree from Kentucky State University, as well as 5 years of commercial/industry experience, working at various commercial aquaponic farms and design companies. Additionally, he has been an integral part of multiple successful grant projects, served as an educational/extension resource, and conducted numerous scientific presentations. He currently works at Virginia State University as the Indoor Agriculture Extension Associate.
Kim Niewolny | Kim Niewolny is Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education and serves as the founding director of the Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation at Virginia Tech. Since 2009, Kim’s research, teaching, and extension programming has emphasized the role of power and praxis in food systems–based community development from an interdisciplinary and critical social theory perspective. As a scholar-practitioner, Kim focuses on the interface of sustainable food systems and the praxis of community food work from classroom to community spaces at the local, regional, and global level. Her research training and experience in qualitative research methods with special interest in discourse analysis and narrative inquiry. Currently funded initiatives include urban agriculture and sustainable food systems; farmworker food, health and wellness; the “Stories of Community Food Work initiative” and more. Kim teaches graduate courses and provides teaching leadership in Virginia Tech’s undergraduate Pathway minor, Food Agriculture, and Society. She has previously served as President for the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society and has been a board member of the Virginia Food Systems Council since 2018. At the Center, her focus is on supporting research, outreach, and education that generates and promotes creative possibilities for food systems that are abundant and resilient so that all may thrive.
