Brian Barker

As a Senior Faculty Specialist, Mr. Barker’s time is spent actively involved in multiple projects. His primary work is as lead author for the monthly published GEOGLAM Crop Monitor for AMIS, which is published within the G-20 Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) Market Monitor. He coordinates over 35 international collaborators to ensure timely data submissions and smooth running of the monthly teleconferences. Building on the success of the Crop Monitor for AMIS, he helped to coordinate the prototyping and development of the Crop Monitor for Early Warning with the leading global food security organizations (USAID FEWS NET, FAO Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), Asia RiCE, and UN World Food Programme). 

Mr. Barker graduated in 2003 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and a minor in Plant Soil Science from the University of Vermont. He earned a graduate certificate in GIS from Johns Hopkins in 2010, then began working as a graduated research assistant at UMD while working for the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) funded by USAID. In 2012, Brian obtained a M.A. in Geographical Sciences from the University of Maryland, examining the relationship of population and deforestation within the Democratic Republic of Congo.