Hi — I’m Masha
I am a PhD student at the University of Washington’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. I study climate adaptation and agriculture, with special interest in the role of seeds and land access in climate resilience. I use qualitative and quantitative methods that include conducting interviews, evaluating survey data, and analyzing satellite imagery. I shape my research in consultation with community organizations and share results with practitioner audiences in accessible formats.
My learning extends beyond the classroom and into the field as a community gardener and previously, a farmworker. I am also a co-organizer of the Jewish Seed Project, exploring cultural connections with seeds and seedkeeping. Before graduate school, I was a communications and outreach professional at the Public Justice Food Project (now known as FarmStand), a legal advocacy organization focused on building a more just food system. I graduated from Boston University with a major in International Relations and minor in Biology in 2019.
I have brought my analytical, communications, and outreach skillsets to a number of projects in the academic, non-profit, and private sectors. If you are interested in hiring me as a consultant, you can reach me at mvernik [at] uw.edu.
Research
Vernik, M., Shah, S.H., Wheat, E., Johnson, B. Seeding Resilience: Crop Diversification in a Changing Climate on Organic Farms in Washington State [Under review in Ecology & Society]
Vernik, M., Atkisson, C., Shah, S.H. The role of land access on perceived adaptive capacity to climate change among U.S. organic farmers: A Bayesian modeling approach. [For submission toClimate Risk Management; 75% complete, not submitted]
Brown, S., Griffin La Hue, D., Vernik, M., Finlinson, J., Butman, D. (2026). Quantifying the environmental and economic impact of municipal biosolids use in dryland wheat in Washington State. Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/uar2.70038
Bostrom, A. Curran, S., Shah, S.H., Allen, C., Salais, D., Vernik, M. Mobility, migration, and displacement in environmental hazards: Integrating demography, population health, and hazards research practices. [For submission to Global Environmental Change; 75% complete, not submitted].
Popular Media & Writing
Published or Distributed Work
- How Farmers are changing cropping strategies in response to a changing climate, a conversation on the Growing for Market podcast, released in January, 2026
- What Seed Traits do Farmers Need? A two-page flyer distributed at the Organic Seed Growers Conference in Corvallis, OR in February, 2025
- Resilience in Diversity: Climate Change and Seed Selection on Organic Farms in Western WA, a blog post about my research for UW’s Program on Climate Change
- What is Jewish Seed? in Natural Farmer magazine, 2024
- Seed Stories of Starobin as part of the Jewish Seed Project blog, 2023
- Create Space for Indigenous Leadership to Preserve Agricultural Biodiversity, a Working Paper published by the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, 2020
- Common Roots, a short documentary that tells the story of a community under threat that comes together by growing food, 2020
What I’m Currently Working On
- The Life and Death of Pomegranate: an essay exploring the duality of life and death encapsulated in mythology involving pomegranates across time and space
- Ways to Build Resilience to Climate Change, a written piece scheduled to be published in Growing for Market magazine in April, 2026
Selected Projects
With my research, stakeholder engagement, and communications skillsets, I have engaged in number of projects related to agriculture and food systems in the non-profit, academic, and private sectors. I bring a well-rounded analytical and collaborative skillset that can positively contribute to any team. For inquiries please reach out to mvernik [at] uw.edu.
Carnation Farms is a non-profit regenerative farm and hub for education, sustainability, and community. I was brought on to contribute to Carnation Farms‘ first ever public-facing impact report in 2024, which tells their story to community members, program beneficiaries, and potential funders. I platformed the farm’s approach to regenerative agriculture through writing, analyzing soil test data, and supporting in the development of maps. I am currently collaborating on the impact report for 2025.
American Prime Sustainable Solutions is a startup that uses satellite data to deliver precise, real-time insights for agriculture. I was brought on to develop relationships with oilseed farmers to pilot APSS’ new technology. I built out a small but dedicated cohort of farmers who used and offered feedback on the company’s remote sensing technology.
Science Core Heuristics for Open Science Outcomes in Learning (SCHOOL) is part of the NASA Transform to Open Science (TOPS) Training initiative, designed to teach the data science lifecycle using data from the NASA Earth Sciences division and to foster an inclusive culture of open science. I spearheaded the development of an educational module that teaches students how to calculate the variability in temperature and precipitation trends at the county scale. This idea sprouted from my M.S. research into climate adaptation among organic farmers, which revealed that farmers are coping with weather trends that are increasingly unreliable.
D4 Hack Week: Disasters, Demography, Disparities, and Decisions brought together 20+ researchers across disciplines to create improved data products that integrate social and weather data to investigate human behavior and adaptive responses to flooding and other severe weather events. As a central coordinator of the D4 Hack Week, I used my project management skills to coordinate hack week participants, create a JupyterBook on GitHub with guidance for teams’ projects, and develop the agenda for the event.
The Jewish Seed Project is a collaborative of Jewish growers, seed keepers, researchers, and storytellers seeking and building relationships with culturally relevant seeds. I am a coordinator of the Jewish Seed Project and have focused on storytelling, planning, and visioning our collaborative project.
Resume & CV
You can see my resume here and CV here.