Tess Noble Strohm

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and growing up in a family of artists and makers, my journey to a career in soil science and agriculture was unexpected. I spent my adolescence dancing, studying theater, and believing whole-heartedly that I would grow up to work in performance arts and never live outside of NYC. However, after spending a summer interning at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, my trajectory quickly changed. My long-term love of the outdoors, fostered by summers spent in the New Hampshire woods and hunting for insects in our Brooklyn backyard, morphed into scientific curiosity. I decided to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Bard College, which provided me the opportunity to work in various ecological fields, from community-led water quality monitoring programs to grazed grassland projects to research on soil microbiology under perennial wheatgrass systems. 

After graduating from Bard, I worked on a small organic vegetable and cut flower farm in the Hudson Valley of New York, where my interest in agroecosystems, small farms, and soils deepened. I quickly realized I wasn’t done with school yet. I accepted a position as a graduate research assistant and moved to Colorado, where I earned a master’s degree in Soil Science (M.S.c) from Colorado State University in 2024. My graduate research included work on soil health assessments for water-limited regions, evaluating the impact of compost application and increased cropping system intensity via cover cropping on physical and biological indicators of soil health in eastern Colorado and eastern New Mexico. Though I loved my time out west, New York was calling me back home. I moved to Ithaca, NY, and worked as a Research Support Specialist at the Cornell Soil Health Lab, which furthered my understanding of soil health testing and analysis. I now serve as the Veteran Project Assistant on the Farm Ops project team. I’m honored to support the Farm Ops mission, helping veterans thrive in agriculture and ensuring they have the tools and resources they need to succeed.