Dietrich Epp Schmidt is a socio-environmental scientist with a passion for building systems that synergistically support human and ecosystem health. He holds a MS and PhD in soil ecology from the University of Maryland, where he studied how land management shapes ecological and biogeochemical processes locally and at a global scale. He has over a decade experience working in sustainable food systems from many angles. He’s been a farmer, a research scientist in the FDA and USDA, and worked on tackling food deserts through youth education and food access programs in the suburbs of Washington DC. He’s excited to support Future Generations University’s youth education program, building the capacity of future generations to tackle critical social and environmental challenges. When he’s not obsessing over the food system, Dietrich can be found hanging out with his family, throwing a disc in the park, or deep in the forest hot on the trail of the elusive Appalachian truffle.