Richard Goe, Professor of Sociology at Kansas State University, has expertise in research methodology for social science research and extensive experience in conducting research on rural communities and labor markets.  The latter has involved the use of survey research and case studies of rural communities involving focus groups and personal interviews with government and business leaders. Goe will be the primary PI responsible for survey development, in addition to collaborating on all other aspects of the project.

László J. Kulcsár is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Kansas Population Center. His field of expertise is social demography and regional development, with a particular emphasis on migration and spatial inequalities. He does research on population dynamics and social change in rural areas, including aging and the impact of natural resource extraction on rural demography. Dr. Kulcsár participates in the NSF EPSCOR eco-forecasting research program which ties population projections to system-level ecological and land use change and the transforming rural landscape in the Great Plains. He also studies the social and demographic transformation of Eastern Europe from a historical perspective, but with a particular emphasis on the post-socialist period. Dr. Kulcsár teaches courses on social and spatial inequalities, population dynamics, immigration and sociological methodology.

Gerad Middendorf is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Kansas State University. His research interests are in the areas of rural and environmental studies, the sociology of agriculture and food, international development, and science and technology studies. He and colleagues recently published / The Fight Over Food / , a book on how producers, consumers and activists are challenging the global food system (Penn State University Press, 2008). Other recent work has included a study of information needs of organic growers and retailers, and a study of agrarian landscape transition in eastern Kansas. He has also published a number of articles and chapters on the implications of agricultural biotechnologies and on agricultural science and technology policy. Middendorf is currently engaged in projects on the role of Latinos in agriculture in the Great Plains, and on biofuels development in the Midwest.

Theresa Selfa, Assistant Professor of Sociology, has expertise in rural development, and environmental, agricultural and development sociology, with research experience in Brazil, Philippines, Europe and the US. She was a post-doctoral associate in Washington State on a project examining alternative agriculture and food systems. Recently she has conducted survey, focus group and in-depth interview research examining farmers’ environmental attitudes and behaviors toward land management in Devon, England and in Kansas. She is currently working as the lead social scientist on an interdisciplinary water quality project, funded by CSREES/USDA Conservation Effects Assessment Program, assessing impacts of farmers’ management behavior on water quality in an agricultural watershed in Central Kansas. Her work has been published in Society and Natural Resources, Environment and Planning A, and Agriculture and Human Values.

Cindy Shuman is the Lead Evaluator for the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation. On staff since 2000, when the office was founded, she is responsible for developing and implementing program evaluations for both university and statewide programs. These activities include evaluation design, development of data collection instruments and protocols, survey development and administration, field data collection, analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, and the preparation of written reports and summaries of evaluation findings for various audiences.   In the capacity of Lead Evaluator, she is responsible for working collaboratively with the Director and Assistant Director to establish office guidelines, contributing to efforts in proposal development and client outreach, and serving as a resource in evaluation design and methodology for other staff members. In addition, these duties include supervising graduate assistants, assisting in the training and support of project staff, and representing the evaluation capabilities of the organization at external meetings and conferences. Dr. Shuman received her Ph.D. in Adult Education from Kansas State University. Her primary interests are in program evaluation and faculty development in higher education. She is a member of the American Evaluation Association.

Albert Iaroi received his undergraduate degree in Journalism and his M.A. in Contemporary Eastern-European History from the Babes-Bolyai University in Romania. An ethnic Hungarian, he grew up in the multicultural environment of Transylvania where he witnessed both the collapse of communism and the post-socialist transformations, including the EU accession of his country. His research interests are comparative rural development in the US and Europe, and social change in Eastern Europe.