My name is Ryan Gavin, and I’m an incoming Ph.D. student in the School of Public Health’s environmental health program. I grew up in Minnesota and pursued both my undergraduate and master’s degrees in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. Though I’ve spent most of my life in Minnesota, I was fortunate to have been able to spend a few years traveling before beginning university, and it was through that travel that I became interested in the issues surrounding nutrition, agriculture, and ecosystem health. Until now, my research has focused on closing yield gaps through cropping system modernization in east Africa and exploring the nutritional variability in wild cereal ancestors, but as my understanding of the issues facing our global food system has evolved, so too have my research interests. While I still view agricultural management as a fascinating and important area of science, through my Ph.D. I’d like to more directly explore the public health impacts of agricultural production, practices, and policy.