Karl’s research collaborations and teaching contributions have led to his recognition as Affiliate Faculty in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education at Penn State. Karl has served on the thesis committees of 8 graduate students in the department during the past several years, and is currently working on projects with a number of its students and faculty members.

Marie-Louise Ryan and Gabriel Tamariz completed their Ph.D candidacy exams in spring 2017, Megan Baumann and Ramzi Tubbeh in Fall 2017. Each of their candidacy committees involved two department faculty members in addition to Karl, who were as follows: Marie-Louise (Professor Lise Nelson and Professor Erica Smithwick); Gabriel (Professor Guido Cervone and Professor Melissa Wright); Megan (Professor Lorraine Dowler and Professor Erica Smithwick); and Ramzi (Professor Guido Cervone and Professor Chris Fowler).

Megan and Ramzi successfully defended and filed their master’s theses in the spring and early summer of 2017. They’ve both been admitted to the department’s Ph.D program where they’re currently beginning their first year and have already completed their candidacy exams (see above). The titles of their master’s theses are “FARMER LANDSCAPE KNOWLEDGE IN NORTH-CENTRAL NICARAGUA” (Megan) and “FROM TERRITORIAL CLAIMS TO MEDIATED ACCESS:  UNRAVELING THE ETHNOTERRITORIAL FIX IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON” (Ramzi). Both Megan and Ramzi completed interesting, important research projects that integrated theoretical and conceptual frameworks with fieldwork, and are working to revise their theses to become journal articles.

Karl has been appointed as an honorary faculty member in the Departamento de Geografía/Department of Geography in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM)/National Autonomous University, Madrid, Spain.  Karl is collaborating with several faculty members and graduate students there and in Granada (with Professor Yolanda Jiménez) in their new 3-year project on the flows of biodiversity and water in and across agri-food landscapes (see below).