Khalid Masoodi is an Associate Professor of Biotechnology at SKUAST-Kashmir. Dr. Masoodi holds both a Master’s and PhD in Biotechnology with over 10 granted patents, more than 100 Publications and a strong focus on translational research and taking discoveries from the lab to real-world impact. His work spans nutraceutical discovery, cancer research, and the development of solutions that directly benefit people and strengthen indigenous food systems. Alongside his research, he is deeply passionate about teaching and mentoring students, guiding the next generation of scientists and innovators. His research bridges fundamental and translational science, taking discoveries from the lab to people through nutraceuticals, designer foods, and cancer therapeutics, and his work is deeply focused on cancer research (especially prostate cancer), medicinal plants, and stress biology in crops. He has been awarded many International (Journal Award Endocrinology, Travel Award-SBUR and National Awards (Early Career Research Award by ANRF, DST, Govt of India).
Molly Riordan is a food systems planning practitioner who pursues equitable regional approaches for building environmentally and socially responsible supply chains. For the last decade, she has explored how large demand centers of food, like cities and anchor institutions, can be levers for food systems transformation.
Molly is the co-author of The Promise of Urban Agriculture: a National Study of Commercial Farming in Urban Areas (2019), a groundbreaking report that now includes a professional development course for planners offered through the Cornell Small Farms Program. She is the current chair of the American Planning Association Food Systems Division, and co-founder of the nonprofit Philly Cooks for Philly, an initiative to build a central kitchen for Philadelphia food programs. Most recently, Molly has also acted as program director at the Center for Good Food Purchasing, which supports large institutions to purchase more values-based foods.
A Western New York native, Molly is returning to Buffalo to pursue a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning, with an interest in resident-led resource and data management for climate change resilience. She earned her master’s in regional planning at Cornell University, and her bachelor’s degree at Ithaca College.
Jane Dai (she/her) draws from multiple disciplines to understand how food systems—shaped by policy, systems, and environments—structure the environments where communities pursue health and well-being. She strives to approach research with a storytelling lens by applying mixed methods to an expansive definition of “data” that includes numbers, narratives, maps, and media. Her work and practice at the intersection of public health, urban planning, and public policy aims to leverage her role as a researcher to translate data and evaluation into equitable, affirming, and liberative strategies for community flourishing.
Jane’s research has focused on exploring cascading effects of racial capitalism in food systems and population health systems. She is particularly interested in how gentrification—alongside other processes related to uneven community development—influences where, when, and how people access food in urban and suburban contexts. Other longtime interests include commercial determinants of health, food decision-making contexts, and big data for public health nutrition. As a full-time human, Jane also enjoys spending her time outside or doing “analog” activities. You can find her dog-spotting on runs, drinking tea and reading, tinkering with sourdough pastries, puzzling, or convincing the neighborhood cat to accept chin scritches.
Olivia is a PhD student in Urban and Regional Planning at UB’s School of Architecture and Planning and a Presidential Fellow. Originally from Ghana, she earned her Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Minnesota State University, a Bachelor’s degree in Human Settlement Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and a Graduate Certificate in GIS. Before coming to UB, she worked as the Community Development Coordinator for the City of Eagle Lake, Minnesota. Olivia is passionate about urban food systems and studies how land use policies can restrict urban agriculture. She also explores the ways food insecurity creates cognitive overload, influences decision-making, and leads to tunneling. At UB’s Food Lab, she is researching how food insecurity affects cognitive functioning on Buffalo’s East Side. In her spare time, she enjoys connecting with her family in Ghana and going to the gym.
Mohsin is a Fulbright award holder born and raised in Pakistan. He came to US in 2022 to pursue his PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from UB’s School of Architecture and Planning. Having a Master’s degree in Remote Sensing and GIS, he is passionate about spatial analysis and use of modern tools and technologies like GIS and Remote Sensing in issues related to poor planning and interventions. His research interests include climate change and mitigation, more specifically, urban heating and disparities in its impact distribution among different social groups.
At the food lab, Mohsin is involved in various projects, including building project dashboards and analyzing the food retail environment, as well as disparities associated with food retail distribution in Erie County. He is also part of the Data Equity for Food Equity (DEFE) project. Before joining UB, he worked as a GIS professional at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Pakistan, while also teaching GIS-related courses to undergraduate and graduate classes as a visiting faculty member at a public sector university in Pakistan. In his leisure time, he enjoys playing squash, badminton, and chess. He also likes hiking, kayaking, cycling, and reading.
Sid Clarke is currently pursuing a Master of Urban Planning at the University at Buffalo. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, they were first introduced to urban agriculture in high school during an internship with the City Parks Foundation, where they spent eight months working in a community garden. They graduated with a Bachelor’s in Anthropology from the City University of New York- Brooklyn College, where they conducted their senior ethnographic research project on food access inequities and environmental racism in predominantly Black communities in New York City and Washington DC. Their interests within planning include food systems, climate justice, and sustainable urban design. They hope to use green urban design to advocate for sustainable infrastructure that supports the health and autonomy of people and the planet, and to endorse community focused equitable urban agriculture and nontraditional food retail to address the systemic inequities that communities of color face in the food system. In their free time, Sid enjoys hiking, pottery and crocheting to unwind.
Justin Kleppel is a graduate student at UB completing his Master’s in Public Health. Originally from New York City, Justin has a deep passion for cities and the health outcomes of those who live in them. Prior to his Master’s, Justin completed his undergraduate degree in Public Health at the University at Buffalo. He aspires to fix food insecurity and health inequalities at the root and believes planning is a tool to accomplish this. Outside of the Food Lab, Justin enjoys coffee and sports. He is also an athlete competing internationally in track & field, and bobsled.
Carlos J. Calderon Jr is an undergraduate student at UB majoring in biomedical sciences and pursuing minors in public health and urban planning. A life-long resident of the East Side, he is invested in understanding the social and environmental determinants of health and putting this knowledge to action in the field of medicine. His lived experiences drive his passion to strive for equity in the physical areas where he grew up, which have shaped his academic pursuits. His long-term goal is to influence legislative change for health equity. Carlos is a McNair Scholar and a member of the Honors College and Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program. In the Food Lab, Carlos is beginning preliminary work on a research project which aims to explore the impact of people’s inaccessibility to food on public health in the East Side. In his free time, Carlos enjoys running, biking, and eating at new places.
Alissa Ujie Diamond is an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Diamond’s work focuses on histories of spatialized inequity and action-research as a basis for systems change in the contemporary world. As an interdisciplinary scholar, she draws on an early career in applied architectural and landscape design as well as scholarly frameworks from environmental history, geography, plant humanities, urban planning, and ethnic studies.
Ms. Della Miller is the 2024 Community Advisor for Research that is Equitable (CARE) Fellow in the UB Food Lab, where she provides guidance and advice on all Buffalo-focused community-related research projects. She is a passionate advocate and experienced consultant in multiple spheres, including community health, education and generational wealth for underserved and low-income communities. A distinguished leader in the field of food equity, Ms. Miller has founded or co-founded multiple food-related initiatives in Buffalo, NY, including St. Augustine’s Food Co-Op and Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers Food Co-Op. As a trained food service expert, she has supported the planning, design, and execution of commercial kitchens with a view toward health and safety. Additionally, she has lent her expertise as a member of the Black Farmers United – NYS, and Buffalo Black Chamber of Commerce, and as a board member of the Clean Air Coalition. She currently serves on the board of Buffalo Freedom Gardens, Inc., a not-for-profit organization committed to helping people grow their own food to support their destinies, and provide for their families while building a loving, healing community that is thriving, healthy and well.