Current Lab Members
Hale Ann Tufan, Director (she/her)
Hale Ann Tufan is an associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science with an adjunct appointment in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. In her work with plant breeders, social scientists, and research institutions, Tufan explores how agricultural research processes and outputs can positively contribute to gender equality and social inclusion. Through her research to develop methods and approaches she enables gender+ analysis in agricultural innovation, while advocating for inclusive agricultural research by challenging power and norms in the research ecosystem.
Tufan serves in leadership positions of several grant-funded projects aimed at food security, crop improvement, seed systems, and gender relations. She is currently the priority setting co-lead of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement, principal investigator of the Gender Responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT) project, principal investigator of Muhogo Bora: Cassava for All, survey division lead of NextGen Cassava, and gender research lead of the Feed the Future Insect-Resistant Eggplant Partnership.
Tufan brings a multidisciplinary background to her research spanning Ph.D.-level research in molecular plant pathogen interactions, plant breeding with CIMMYT, international agricultural research for development program management, and gender research and capacity development across sub-Saharan Africa.
Tufan is the 2019 recipient of the Norman Borlaug Field Award. She completed her Ph.D. in molecular biology from the John Innes Centre, UK.
Canaan Boyer, Program Manager (she/her)
I am the program manager for the EQUAL Lab, where I carry out administrative duties as well as serve on the management team of several international agricultural development projects. I have a strong interest and background in intercultural communication, having worked in international development for over five years, and in the study abroad field before joining Cornell in 2017.
At Cornell, I began working to support grant-funded projects that seek to increase food security and the incomes of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa by improving staple crop varieties and enhancing their seed systems. My work in these projects opened my eyes to many of the realities and complications of the agricultural development landscape in Africa and beyond, and recognize the importance of challenging current paradigms in the development world. I am particularly interested in the lab’s research areas of gender relations and equity, inclusion of marginalized groups, and valuing farmers’ knowledge. I find it very rewarding to support this research, and to engage in projects that have offered me so much in terms of new, exciting cultural discoveries and interpersonal connections.
I hold a BA from Oberlin College (USA), and a Master’s degree in French Literature from Boston University (USA). Originally from Ithaca, I returned here after going away to earn my degrees, live in France for two years, and in Boston for ten. I love living near family in my hometown while also getting to work with international colleagues every day, and traveling regularly.
Emma Herrighty, PhD Student (she/her)
I am pursuing a PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics. After graduating from Cornell in 2018 with a degree in International Agriculture and Rural Development, I went on to a double master’s program at Iowa State University in Anthropology (MA) and Sustainable Agriculture (MS). My thesis focused on Indigenous seed sovereignty and the rising movement for seed rematriation in the United States.
Throughout this winding path, my research interests have centered on the conservation of agricultural biodiversity, exploring the intricate relationships between people and their crops, and promoting sustainable seed systems for a more equitable future. I am currently in the process of developing my dissertation research, so please check back soon for an update! In my free time I enjoy reading, thrifting, and thinking about all of the crafting I aspire to do.
Monifa Morgan-Bell, Research and Administrative Assistant
I work as an Administrative and Research assistant in the EQUAL lab where I provide support with travel, procurement, project faciltation and lab onboarding needs. I currently support the Muhogo Bora and AWARE projects. I formerly worked as the Program Assistant for ILCI, coordinated the Thomas Wyatt Turner Fellowship and provided support for GREAT and NextGen Cassava.
I have over 15 years financial and business experience working in municipalities and academia. I am also an active mentor with the Finance Mentoring Program at Cornell. I hold an associated degree in Business Administration and am currently pursuing my bachelors degree in Global Development with a minor in communications.
My interest is in the intersectionality of sociology and economic development and the cultural context. Prior to coming to Cornell, I worked at the City of Syracuse, as the Office Manager for the Legal department and also within the Behavioral and Healthcare sectors. I enjoy international travel, swimming, good books and pilates.
Esther Oluwatosin Obafunsho, PhD Student (she/her)
I am a Graduate Research Assistant at the EQUAL Lab within the School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, Cornell University. My work resonates with a transdisciplinary approach in which I draw on intellectual frameworks from Social Studies of Science and Technology (STS), African Philosophy, and Gender Perspectives to zoom into the way knowledge is (re) produced in plant breeding as well as the gendered patterns in the breeding profession itself. I also engage in the analysis of discursive mechanisms and institutional power dynamics that create or perpetuate social constructions of gender hegemonies and/or disparagement in plant breeding and crop improvement.
Before joining Cornell, I worked with the federal government of Nigeria as a Researcher, Extension Officer, and Gender Specialist on issues related to Rural Development at the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), a parastatal in the Ministry of Environment since 2009 where I represent the institute to participate in different gender-responsive research-extension-farmers meetings, where we engage in exchange of ideas, and decisions are taken on how to improve forestry and agricultural sustainability in the country.
I possess a Masters Degree in Development and Rural Innovation from Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands which spurred collaborative research with a multidisciplinary group of scientists in the NextGen Cassava project at CGIAR (IITA), Nigeria. I also hold a first-class honors, Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. Furthermore, I possess a distinction-graded Higher National Diploma degree in Agricultural Extension Management as well as a National Diploma in Forestry Technology from the Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan. A fun fact about me is my spontaneity. I cannot even predict what I will be doing by the end of the day.
Martina Occelli, Research Associate (she/her)
I am an Agricultural Economist and Researcher, and I joined the EQUAL Lab in 2021. My research challenges assumptions about participatory research and farmers’ engagement, shedding light on the role and impact of farmers’ knowledge in the process of adopting new technologies. My contributions span the fields of inclusive and gender-intentional method design, causal inference, and intra-household data collection. In October 2025, I also became a member of the Food Systems Economics and Policy Group at ETH Zurich.
I have a Ph.D. in Economics from the Sant’ Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy. I hold a Double Degree Master in Economic Development from the University of Pavia, Italy, and the University of Hohenheim, Germany. In the past, I have done consultancies for organizations such the Stanford Global Center for Gender Equality, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and the International Labor Organization.
My passion is field work, and I have conducted several primary data collections in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi and Costa Rica. When I am not doing research, I love boxing and watching old detective movies.
Luis Alfonso Sánchez, PhD Student (he/him)
I am a PhD student in Plant Breeding and Genetics, and joined the EQUAL Lab as a graduate research assistant in fall 2024. I am also part of the Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement (ILCI), where I focus my work on priority setting and cross-cutting issues in Costa Rica.
Before coming to Cornell, I worked in finance for nearly six years, with much of my experience in agricultural banking. For the past six years, I have been part of the National Institute of Innovation and Technology Transfer of Costa Rica (INTA), where I have been involved in participatory processes, especially in the area of crop improvement. My main interest is to continue working and supporting more inclusive participatory processes in the area of crop improvement, seed systems and technology dissemination in the Central American region.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics and Agroenvironment from the University of Costa Rica, as well as a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the Catholic University of Chile. In my free time, I enjoy building things, I am an amateur builder. I also like watching soccer, science fiction movies and trekking.
Cornell Grad Student Collaborators
Erin Farmer, School of Integrative Plant Science (she/her)
I am a PhD student in Plant Breeding and Genetics in Mike Gore’s lab. My current work in the EQUAL Lab focuses on data integration and mixed methods to understand trait preferences and contribute to future survey design. Overall, my research interests include participatory breeding, proximal remote sensing for crop improvement, and quantitative genetics.
I hold bachelor’s degrees in mathematics, economics, and physics from the University of Arkansas (USA) and a MSc in local economic development from the London School of Economics (United Kingdom).
Emily Fratz, School of Integrative Plant Science (she/they)
I am currently a PhD student in Plant Breeding and Genetics in the Moore Lab.
In the EQUAL lab, I plan to explore participatory breeding methods and related research questions around participation.
Marjorie Hanneman, School of Integrative Plant Science (she/her)
I am currently a PhD candidate in Plant Breeding and Genetics focusing on grain quality traits and mapping the genetic basis of vitamin B3 in maize in Mike Gore’s lab (see my bio, and read more about my research in the Gore Lab).
Within the EQUAL Lab, I am leading a scoping review on sorghum and millet grain quality preferences around the globe. This review will focus on compiling what consumers, farmers, producers, and breeders value in their grains and comparing them across regions, gender, and uses. Ideally this will serve as a resource for breeding programs to understand the range of uses and preferences of grains, how to phenotype them, and know what has already been done in other programs.
Yoselyn Hernandez, Dyson School (she/her)
I am currently part of the EQUAL Lab at Cornell University, where I am participating in a socioeconomic research project focused on bean cultivation in Costa Rica. This project analyzes family dynamics and the adoption of bean varieties, with the objective of better understanding farming practices and decisions made by producers.
Previously, at the Instituto Nacional de Innovación y Transferencia en Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) in Costa Rica, I conducted socioeconomic research on various crops, including beans, sorghum and sweetpotato. My work has always been focused on understanding the interactions between agricultural production and the socioeconomic factors that influence rural communities.
I am originally from Costa Rica, where I obtained my BS in Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Costa Rica. Currently, I am pursuing an MS in Applied Economy and Management at the Dyson Program at Cornell, which will allow me to expand my knowledge in applied economics in the agricultural sector.
Quinn Johnson, School of Integrative Plant Science (she/her)
I am a PhD student in the Plant Breeding and Genetics program where I conduct interdisciplinary research. I was trained as a molecular biologist but have come to understand the importance of social science research. I am a part of Wojtek Pawlowski’s meiotic recombination lab where I study double strand break formation using computational approaches, but I am also studying how care responsibilities and gender shape a tenure track faculty’s academic career in plant breeding in the EQUAL Lab. After reflecting on my own struggles that I can imagine facing in my career ahead and noticing the drop off in diversity in senior academic positions I started to become more aware of how our social identities can influence our career trajectories. I am passionate about science, but I also care about how science is conducted.
Before coming to Cornell, I obtained my bachelors degree from the University of Minnesota in Plant breeding where I focused on genetics and genomics, biochemistry, and gene editing. Then I worked for a biotech startup conducting chromosome editing.
Matthew Norman-Ariztía, School of Integrative Plant Science (he/him)
I am an undergraduate research assistant in the EQUAL lab, where I support research on the sampling methodologies used by participatory breeding programs and global sorghum and millet trait preferences. I will also soon be starting my thesis with the EQUAL lab, details to be determined! In addition to my work as a research assistant I also work at Anabel’s Grocery and Taverna Banfi.
I am a fourth-year student studying Plant Sciences with a concentration in plant breeding, genetics, and bioengineering. I came to Cornell knowing that I wanted to pursue plant breeding but through my involvements in organizations on campus such as the Translator Interpreter Program and lectures on participatory breeding, I have become very interested in crop improvement as a tool for social justice, focusing on social impact and inclusionary practices in modern day plant breeding programs. In the future I hope to pursue a PhD in plant breeding using biotechnological approaches; with an emphasis on education, language access, and participatory practices. I am also broadly interested in effective leadership and mentoring through both the CALS Ambassadors and Plant Sciences Peer Mentoring programs. Please feel free to reach out to me if there is ever a question regarding undergraduate studies at CALS!
I grew up in a Chilean-American household near Atlanta, Georgia with two younger siblings, and in my fleeting spare time I enjoy reading, cooking, and hanging out with friends.
Ranya Perez, Dept. of Anthropology (she/they)
I am based in the Department of Anthropology at Cornell. You can find my full bio here.
In the EQUAL Lab, I am assisting on two projects. The first is a qualitative study on the relationship between growers and faculty, focusing on the power dynamics that shape both faculty/grower relations and crop management decisions. The second project is an organizational analysis of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), examining how the structural and cultural experiences of CCE staff and extension faculty affect relationships and interactions among NYS constituents—senior leadership, regional staff and educators, faculty, and growers.
Jeisson Prieto, Dyson School (he/him)
I’m a second-year Ph.D. student in Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. I’m working in the EQUAL Lab, developing frameworks to understand the gender differences in technology adoption. Specifically, we are analyzing how the bias in gender in self-reported agricultural data is due to the Non-Classic Measurement Error. My current research is focused on Computational Sustainability (e.g., Agricultural Technology, Biodiversity Finance), bioinspired Multi-objective Optimization (e.g., Resource Allocation Problems), understanding Infectious Disease behavior (e.g., FMD Disease and Classical Swine Fever), and Pattern Recognition (i.e., web health surveillance, Anomaly detection).
Before attending Cornell University, I worked on devising decision-making systems from models. building and evaluation to optimize various problems, such as security in metropolitan Bogota, animal agriculture, and pandemic management. In addition to my academic commitments, I have worked as a contractor for various businesses like dairy farming consulting and climate-tech startups (e.g., developing mathematical models to describe the nutrient utilization by dairy cows, and creating sustainable ways for customers to shop online using machine/deep learning tools).
I received my bachelor’s in Computer and Systems Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Colombia) and my Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from the same University.
Kushal Kumar Reddy, Dyson School (he/him)
I work as Graduate Research Assistant at the EQUAL Lab and Master of Science student at Cornell University, focusing on Applied Economics and Management with a specialization in International and Development Economics. I am passionate about applying scientific rigor and rational thinking in decision-making, aiming to understand the world better and help improve it, even slightly. My research interest lies in exploring how changes in food, policy, and technology affect the most socio-economically vulnerable populations.
I am writing my Master’s thesis on understanding how exposure to Bt Brinjal affects the intra-household dynamics and women empowerment in Bangladesh; Another project I am currently involved is to understand how public and private food assistance programs in the US interact with each other from the beneficiaries’ transaction data.
My educational background is rooted in the natural sciences, I hold a B.S.-M.S. in Biological Sciences from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. Before my time at Cornell, I worked briefly as a research intern with LEAD at Krea University, and as a research assistant at UC Berkeley Haas School. In my spare time, I enjoy playing tennis, running or hiking in Ithaca, and listening to podcasts.
Lab Alumnx
David Brown, Postdoctoral Associate (he/him)
I am a Post-Doctoral Associate at the EQUAL Lab within the School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Plant Breeding and Genetics Section. I work on the development and application of data synthesis approaches to produce location-specific information to support decision making in crop variety management. In my work, I collaborate with a multidisciplinary group of scientists in the NextGen Cassava project in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement in Costa Rica.
My main research interest is on how geographical factors affect crop variety performance from the perspective of farmers as end users. In that sense, I am also interested in understanding how farmers take decisions about what, when and where to plant, considering their geographical and socioeconomic context, in order to develop methods and tools that provide them tailored information to support farm decision making. Before joining the EQUAL Lab, I worked for Bioversity International (CGIAR) in several positions such as: Informatics, Information Technology Specialist, GIS Specialist and Research Fellow.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Business Informatics from the University of Costa Rica, an MSc in Geographical Information Science and Systems from the University of Salzburg, Austria, and a PhD in Geo-information Science from Wageningen University, the Netherlands.
Erica Lopez Benavides, Research Support Specialist (she/her)
As a research associate for the EQUAL lab at Cornell University, I dive deep into the intriguing world of intrahousehold dynamics and bean variety adoption. During my master’s degree, I discovered a passion for the intersection of psychology and economics and how it reveals the behavioral biases that influence household decisions. At the EQUAL lab, my aim is to contribute to improving the understanding of farmers’ crop variety preferences, studying rural entrepreneurship, promoting gender equity, and ensuring food security in a world that faces evolving environmental and social dynamics.
Prior to pursuing my master’s degree at Cornell, I was involved in various financial sustainability projects in Colombia. As part of the government team working on Colombia’s financial inclusion strategy, I researched credit access for vulnerable populations. This experience developed my deep concern for strengthening the resilience of underserved populations, promoting gender equity and social inclusion.
I hold a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a Master of Science in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University in the USA. In my free time, I enjoy watching thriller movies, playing board games, and hiking.
Dumisani Moyo, Research Intern (he/him)
I am a Human Geographer and Research Intern in the EQUAL Lab. I collaborate in the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement, where I am a member of the research team working on the project, “What farmers care about when making varietal decisions? Coordinating traditional and academic ecological knowledge in participatory plant breeding”. I have expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods, specializing in the geographies of agricultural knowledge production, with a focus on investigating pathways to decolonialities.
I am studying for a PhD in Geography with the University of Glasgow. I hold an MSc in Agricultural and Applied economics and a BSc in Agribusiness Management from the University of Malawi.
Ida Tarjem, Postdoctoral Associate (she/her)
I work as postdoctoral associate in the EQUAL Lab, where I do research at the intersection of gender, technoscience, organizations and leadership in/of crop improvement. I am passionate about creating dialogue between feminist approaches and plant biotechnology, as well as creating more space for girls, women, gender diverse individuals and other historically marginalized groups in STEM fields.
I have a B.S. in biology from the University of Bristol, UK, and a M.S. in biotechnology and PhD in international environment and development studies, both from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. In the past, I have done consultancies for organizations such as the International Potato Center, the Stanford Global Center for Gender Equality, the Norwegian Biotechnology Advisory Board and the Carbon Technology Research Foundation.
My first job at the age of 9 was for the Norwegian Space Agency, and I have been a sucker for anything space-related ever since! In my spare time, I like lifting weights, doing yoga, learning Japanese and spoiling my niece.