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For most of his prior 15 years in USDA, Rick was engaged directly in our nation’s bioeconomy through the U.S. Forest Service: first on the ground in forest management on the National Forests, and later in forest policy and regulation for USDA leadership and on assignment to the US Senate Committee on Agriculture. For the rest of those years Rick worked in senior management with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service in agricultural trade capacity-building. Rick holds a B.S. in Conservation & Resource Studies from U.C. Berkeley and a Master’s in Forest Science from Yale.

She works with colleagues across USDA to integrate climate adaptation into their planning, programs, and operations to ensure USDA is equipped to serve and support its stakeholders in a changing climate.

In addition to leading the way in agriculture, natural resources, and food, USDA is committed to strengthen communities and nourishing kids. The Center is here to help communities connect with USDA priorities and programs so that together, we can positively impact lives.Please don’t hesitate to contact us and discuss how we can better serve your community.To get the latest news from us, please sign up for the USDA Center newsletter.

Ms. Van Alstine previously worked as an environmental health scientist, senior chemist, and supervisory chemist in the Health Effects Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs from 2008 to 2022. Directly prior to joining OPMP, she worked as a health science specialist at the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Ms. Van Alstine received her MPH in Global Health from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and her BS in Chemistry from Allegheny College.

Ms. Ranville previously worked as an economist in the Biological and Economic Analysis Division (BEAD) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs from 2008 to 2015. Her work at EPA focused on evaluating the economic benefits of pesticides, primarily in agricultural applications. She also worked on cost-benefit analysis for regulations and led an effort to develop a method for establishing economic minor uses of pesticides. She has since worked as an economist at the U.S.

Lori has been in the Federal government for the past 13 years. All of that time had been spent with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH. Lori has experience with a wide range of administrative tasks, as she has been a support staff assistant, administrative assistant, and for the last 6 years, an administrative officer.

She focuses primarily on pesticide use and usage data analysis in support of human health and ecological risk assessments (including Biological Evaluations and Biological Opinions for endangered species consultation). Ms. Paisley-Jones previously worked as a biologist in the Biological and Economic Analysis Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs from 2013 to 2022, where she gained extensive experience in pesticide usage/benefits analysis, label review, and risk assessment methodology development. Ms. Paisley-Jones earned her M.S.