Cass Madden, MA

Cass was born in Colorado, in the United States, and has been living in Peru for the past four years. She holds a BA in anthropology and Spanish from Tufts University, and is an alumna of SIT Peru: Indigenous Peoples and Globalization. She completed an MA in climate change and global sustainability with SIT Graduate Institute, where she wrote a thesis advised by Alex Alvarez focused on indigenous food systems in the Andes. For the past several years, Cass has worked with indigenous NGOs in the Andes and beyond, focusing on food systems and climate change resilience in mountain environments. In Peru, she has conducted research exploring biocultural landscape management models, micro-enterprises for economic empowerment, and the relationship between vertical crop systems and nutrition. Since completing her graduate degree she has also served as an advisor for several student ISPs, as a guest lecturer on climate change in the Andes, and as an assistant for the Research Methods and Ethics course at SIT in Cusco.

Education

• BA in anthropolgy and Spanish, Tufts University
• MA in Climage Change and Global Sustainability, SIT Graduate Institute