Aishwarya Venkat , Ph.D., is a geospatial analyst and food systems researcher with interdisciplinary expertise in the climate-food-health nexus. She is particularly interested in climate resilience and food security in coupled human and natural systems. At Project Drawdown her work focuses on climate solutions related to land use change and sustainable diets.  Aishwarya recently earned her doctorate from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University with a dissertation on extreme weather event impacts on food systems. Her prior work focused on contextualizing seasonal trends in acute malnutrition in arid and semi-arid regions, as well as improving global monitoring of diet costs and affordability. She holds a master’s degree in environmental and water resources engineering from Tufts and a bachelor's degree in biosystems engineering from Virginia Tech. 

Erika is an interdisciplinary researcher working to create more sustainable and inclusive food systems. She has studied sustainable agricultural systems, sustainability standards, food security, and intersection with gender issues, among others. Erika seeks to understand local environmental problems from a global perspective, how systems are interrelated, and social and economic implications. She has worked as a policy analyst for the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and in research assistant positions at several universities. In addition, she worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Mexico, on developing a farmers' market. She holds a master of science degree in resources, environment, and sustainability from the University of British Columbia and a bachelor of science in earth and environmental sciences from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Megan Matthews, Ph.D., is an interdisciplinary researcher interested in using data and outreach to promote sustainability, food equity, and environmental justice through the lens of agroecology. At Project Drawdown, her work focuses on climate solutions in the electricity and food & agriculture sectors. Megan earned her Ph.D. in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology studying the aerodynamics of plant-pollinator interactions before joining the Institute for Local Self-Reliance as a research fellow supporting the Composting for Community Initiative.In her free time, Megan enjoys baking, volunteering at community gardens, and frequenting outdoor festivals and markets.