CLF-Lerner Fellow Selected for the FFAR Fellowship 2025-2028 Cohort

Aug 21, 2025

The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) is pleased to announce the selection of Charles Bakin to the 2025-2028 cohort of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) Fellowship. Charles is a 2024-2025 recipient of the CLF-Lerner Fellowship and a second-year PhD student in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Environmental Health and Engineering. As a FFAR Fellow, Charles becomes one of 32 graduate students selected into this cohort, and he joins the broader network of 200 current and alumni FFAR fellows representing 45 universities across 35 states in the United States and three Canadian provinces. Charles is both the first CLF-Lerner Fellow and Johns Hopkins student to be named a FFAR fellow. 

Created by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and FFAR, the FFAR Fellowship strives to build the capacity of the next generation of food and agriculture scientists through professional development and career guidance. The fellowship is a 3-year program, in which graduate students are mentored by representatives from industry and academic settings and engage with their peers through professional development programming. The program’s goal is to shape students’ skills as they progress through their graduate education and transition into the workforce as future leaders for food and agriculture. 

As a FFAR Fellow and CLF-Lerner Fellow, Bakin expresses enthusiasm about sharing the work of CLF while expanding his network through FFAR.  

“I’m excited to engage with the FFAR Fellowship community, where I can develop leadership, collaboration, and networking skills, and gain experiences that enhance my ability to conduct impactful research as a Ph.D. student and CLF-Lerner Fellow,” he says. 

Charles also adds that the FFAR Fellowship complements the technical training from his PhD program and the CLF-Lerner Fellowship by further developing his skills as a public health researcher. He’s advised by Keeve Nachman, the Robert S. Lawrence Professor and associate director of CLF.  “With his background in quantitative microbial risk assessment in the context of food animal production and public health, Charles stands to bring much to (and learn even more from) this prestigious fellowship,” said Nachman.

“Education and training opportunities that build the capacity of students to contribute to meaningful food systems change is fundamental to advancing CLF’s mission,” says Shawn McKenzie, director of the Center for a Livable Future. “The FFAR Fellows Program experience will certainly expand Charles’ capacity in this regard. He exemplifies the spirit of the program, understanding very well that research impact extends beyond data collection and analysis and requires the ability to lead, communicate, and collaborate across disciplines and sectors.”