INTAD Alumna Ariel Rivers Elected to Vice President of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development

International Agriculture and Development alumna Ariel Rivers was recently elected to vice president of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development. In the vice president role, she will be leading the efforts for the 2021 AIARD Conference. She also plans to conduct more strategic outreach for membership engagement, for example, looping in more past Future Leaders to help drive the conference agenda. With a new Conference and Events Committee, she hopes to continue virtual events throughout the year. As many of the benefits of AIARD membership come from the networking and shared information between members, she aims to increase opportunities to bring individuals together to share information across the spectrum of international agriculture and development.

Ariel currently serves as the Pacific Region Representative for the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD). In this role she combines her passion and energy for sustainability in agriculture and food security with her interest in science policy, public partnerships, and education. Ariel supports local conservation districts and partners in six western states and five overseas territories in their efforts to conserve natural resources across public and private lands, while promoting the use of best practices in both urban and rural agricultural spaces. Prior to NACD, Ariel served as Postharvest Coordinator for Latin America at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and helped to launch the Global Locust Initiative at Arizona State University.

Ariel holds a dual-title doctorate in Entomology and International Agriculture and Development from Pennsylvania State University, an M.S. degree in Environmental Studies from San José State University, and a B.S. degree in Soil and Water Science from the University of California, Davis. Before starting her Ph.D. at Penn State, Ariel was successfully awarded a place in the 2012 Future Leaders cohort. Her enthusiasm for AIARD drew many Penn State students to the organization and helped inspire the Sunday evening Career Workshop at the AIARD annual conferences.