Dr. Daryll E. Ray
Professor and Blasingame Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Policy
APAC - Director
University of Tennessee
309 Morgan Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4519
Tel: (865) 974-7407
Fax: (865) 974-7298
dray@utk.edu

Dr. Ray came to the University of Tennessee as the chair holder in agricultural policy in 1991. He received his Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1971 then joined the faculty at Oklahoma State University where he served until accepting the chair position at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Ray established the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center around his research program in 1992 and has served as APAC's director since that time. Over his distinguished career, Dr. Ray has focused primarily on commodity policy, development of analytical models for policy analysis, and deepening the understanding of the structure and nature of the agricultural sector.

Daniel G. De La Torre Ugarte
Research Associate Professor
APAC - Associate Director
The University of Tennessee
310-A Morgan Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4519
Tel: (865) 974-7407
Fax: (865) 974-7298
danieltu@utk.edu

Dr. De La Torre Ugarte has been involved with APAC since its inception and has served as APAC's associate director since 1994. He completed his Ph.D. in agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University in 1992. His primary areas of research have been in commodity and energy policy. Dr. Ugarte recently has focused on the price and income impacts of increased use of various types of biomass for energy production. He also has worked with the USDA to expand the number of commodities included in APAC's national policy simulation model and to evaluate the supply responsiveness of agricultural commodities before and after the 1996 Freedom to Farm legislation.

Kelly H. Tiller
Assistant Professor
The University of Tennessee
310-C Morgan Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4519
Tel:(865) 974-7407
Fax: (865) 974-7298
ktiller@utk.edu

Dr. Tiller began working with the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center in 1997 after completing her Ph.D. in agricultural economics at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Tiller's research focuses on agricultural and natural resource policy. Recent research projects have focused on tobacco policy issues, especially those related to the tobacco settlement and the federal tobacco program. Other recent areas of research have focused on farm-level impacts of alternative policies and economic conditions.

Harwood Schaffer
Research Associate
The University of Tennessee
310 Morgan Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4519
Tel: (865) 974-3666
Fax: (865) 974-7298
hdschaffer@utk.edu

Harwood Schaffer is a Research Associate II in the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center.

Harwood is a 1965 graduate of The Ohio State University with a B.Sc. in mathematics. In 1969 he received an M.Div. from The Hartford Seminary Foundation and was ordained as a clergyperson in the United Church of Christ. From 1971 until 1999 he served small rural churches in agricultural communities. In the late 1970s he helped his denomination develop a comprehensive look at rural issues. He was also editor and publisher of a rural weekly newspaper from 1991 until 1999.

Harwood has worked at the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center since 2000. He earned a M.S. in Agricultural Economics from The University of Tennessee in 2006. With over 40 years of experience, Harwood brings a strong interest, commitment and depth of knowledge to his work. He understands farmers as well as the challenges and opportunities facing agriculture today. He works with Daryll Ray in the research and writing of Daryll’s weekly column on agricultural policy. This column is distributed both nationally and internationally and is picked up by a variety of media outlets. Harwood travels to make presentations on farm policy issues.

He has completed most of his coursework for a PhD in sociology. Harwood has a personal webpage: http://web.utk.edu/~hschaffe

Chad Hellwinckel
Research Associate
The University of Tennessee
310 Morgan Hall
Knoxville, Tn 37996-4519
Tel: (865) 974-7234
Fax: (865) 974-7298
chellwin@utk.edu

Chad received a BS in economics from St. Olaf College in 1991 and his MS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Tennessee in 1996. Chad worked for APAC from 1996 through 1999 and has recently returned. During his absence from APAC Chad has worked for the National Forest Service as a Fire Lookout in Arizona, a trail crew member in New Mexico, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama. He is presently assisting with POLYSYS modeling, updating and simulation.

Bradly Wilson
Computer Programmer/Analyst
310-B Morgan Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4519
Tel: (865) 974-3713
Fax: (865) 974-7298
driver8@utk.edu

Brad is responsible for taking care of APAC's programming and computer support needs. He designs and programs user interfaces for APAC's analytical models. He also writes data management and graphic display routines for outputting model results; in addition to the scores of tasks that computer specialists are asked to perform.

Alejandro Dellachiesa
Research Assistant
The University of Tennessee
310 Morgan Hall
Knoxville, Tn 37996-4519
Tel: (865) 974-8726
Fax: (865) 974-7298
adellach@utk.edu

Alejandro is a graduate of the University of Belgrano, Argentina, with a B.S. in Agricultural Economics, and an M.B.A. In 2005, he received an M.S in Agricultural Economics from The University of Tennessee where he is currently pursuing a PhD in Economics. Alejandro worked as manager of fresh food area in a large retail market chain while completing his B.S. He then managed a mixed grain and oilseed farm in Argentina for 5 years. While managing the crop farm, he served as a consultant for a large cattle farm and developed a pivot irrigation project for row crops and a fruit production-export oriented business plan. His main focus of research in the APAC is the international trade of agricultural crops. He is also interested in examining the effect of trade liberalization on agricultural developing and developed countries. He is fluent in French and Spanish.

Lixia He
Post Doctoral Research Associate
The University of Tennessee
310 Morgan Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4519
Phone (865) 974-8726
Fax: (865) 974-7298
llamber3@utk.edu

Dr. Lixia He is a research associate at the Agricultural Policy Analysis Centre (APAC). She received her PhD in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University in 2004. Before moving to Tennessee in 2006 with her husband, she was a research associate for the Alberta Ingenuity Center for Water Research (AICWR) and the Department of Economics at University of Calgary. There, her research focused on water use for agriculture in the South Saskatchewan River Basin. Her research interests include agricultural and natural resource economics, risk management analysis, bioenergy development, public policy, and linear and non-linear optimization models for regional water and agricultural land allocation. She is currently involved in projects analyzing water resource management and biomass production at the farm and regional levels for bioenergy development.

Julie Goldman
Administrative Support Assistant
The University of Tennessee
309 Morgan Hall
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-4515
Phone: (865) 974-7407
Fax: (865) 974-7289
jgoldman@utk.edu

Julie provides support for the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center. She has a long history in the agricultural field, raised on a 240 acre dairy farm on the Illinois-Wisconsin state-line and active in 4-H and FFA. She received her AS from McHenry County College, 1979 and her BS in Plant and Soil Science from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1981. Julie worked eight years in nursery landscape design build operations before moving to Tennessee. She was busy raising her family for 15 years and working in all aspects of business for a family manufacturing company before coming to work at the University of Tennessee five years ago. She achieved her Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) rating May 2007 and is a member of the Knoxville Chapter of International Association of Administrative Professionals.