Suzanne Baker joins the USDA Northeast Climate Hub with a diverse background, which includes degrees in mechanical engineering, biology and some advanced coursework in soils fertility.
Suzanne first began her career in Michigan, where she worked as a CAD designer for a conveyor company, and as a finite element analysis engineer designing frames and running noise and vibrational analyses for the automotive industry. She next moved to California and obtained her degree in biology from California State University Fullerton. While in California, she worked as a naturalist, photographer, environmental analyst, consultant, and team leader for botanical research on U.S. Forest Service lands in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Over the last 19 years, Suzanne has resided in New York and worked for the agricultural industry. During these years, she was employed as an engineer/planner for Columbia County Soil and Water Conservation District, a designer and construction inspector for the NYC watershed, and a NRCS planner for the NYC watershed. Since then, Suzanne has moved to New York’s Southeast Area Office to assist with program oversight and staff training.
In 2016, Suzanne was selected to serve a seven-month detail to work for NRCS, Ecological Sciences Division in NHQ, where she spearheaded efforts to develop policy and criteria for “Ecological Sciences Job Approval Authority” with input from all the agency technical leads. Shortly after, Suzanne was selected to serve a year-long detail as the 2017 NRCS Project Liaison to the USDA Northeast Climate Hub. Her focus over the next year will be to establish protocol and development of adaptive conservation plans for Tribes, and to further establish partnerships between the Climate Hubs and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts.