Department of Plant and Soil Science
Current Graduate Students
Dana Allen
Landscape Design
Advisor: Aleksandra Drizo
Dana's current project focuses on nutrient management, specifically phosphorus, in agricultural and industrial waste water streams. He is also looking into the incorporation of innovative filter media into low-impact developments for the control of nutrients and other pollutants in stormwater runoff.
Peter Austin
Soil Ecology
Advisor: Josef Gorres
The main objective of Peter’s research is to study the effectiveness of vermicompost as a fast-acting nitrogen source while investigating the invasiveness of red wigglers, Eisenia foetida, a common composting worm. Little is known about the invasiveness of E. foetida in northern deciduous hardwood forests.
Rebecca Bourgault
Soil Chemistry and Pedology
Advisor: Don Ross
Rebecca is studying the hydropedology (interactions between water and soils) of Watershed 3 of Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, NH. Rebecca is observing the spatial distributions and interactions of pedogenically significant mobile elements (aluminum, iron, manganese, organic carbon, and rare earth elements), and implications for variability in chemistry of headwaters.
William Boykin-Morris
Rural Remote Sensing of Agriculture
Advisor: Ernesto Mendez
Terry Bradshaw
Apple Research
Advisor: Lorraine Berkett
Bill Morris is a cartographer and PhD student in the Agroecology and Rural Livelihoods lab, where his research focuses on the spatial relationships between ecosystem services and agricultural productivity. His current USDA-funded work looks at the cultural drivers and implications of land use change in the Champlain Valley.
Terry's research is focused on assessing horticultural and economic sustainability of organic apple production systems in Vermont. Emphasis is aimed at helping farmers find real-world solutions to problems on the farm, identifying potential alternative practices to improve environmental and farm sustainability.
Lily Calderwood
Agroecology
Advisor: Josef Gorres
In 2011 New England hop growers began reporting serious insect pressure and damage to crop quality and yield. In response, Lily is conducting research and creating outreach material for hop growers on integrated pest management (IPM) specific to our region. Lily aims to work collaboratively with growers to identify beneficial and harmful arthropods attracted to hop plants in the Northeast and measure the efficacy of a diverse intercrop.
Sebastian Castro
Agroecology
Advisor: Ernesto Mendez
Amanda Cording
Sustainable Landscape
Advisor: Stephanie Hurley
Sebastian's research focuses on modelling the impact of more sustainable farming practices on farm and landscape productive and ecological functions and farmers's livelihood. He is also interested in the development of environmental monitoring and decision support systems using geoinformation technologies.
Amanda's research focuses on investigating the mechanisms influencing greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient transformations at various depths in engineered soil media within bioretention cells. She is also interested in how these systems can be implemented to reduce pollutant loading in countries that currently lack underground stormwater infrastructure.
Lynn Fang
Advisor: Deb Neher
Margarita Fernandez
Agroecology
Advisor: Ernesto Mendez
Justin Geibel
Agricultural Soils
Advisor: Don Ross
Margarita's research explores social benefits and community-based management systems of urban agriculture in New York City and Havana, Cuba. Her dissertation research at UVM will explore agroecology and rural livelihood issues in coffee growing communities of Chiapas, Mexico and Nicaragua.
Justin's research at the Miner Agricultural Research Institute focuses on nutrient and water management in Agricultural soils, and the effects of tile drainage on phosphorus and nitrogen cycling. His thesis research uses field scale monitoring and lab experimentation to explore how drainage water management techniques can influence Phosphorus movement and availability through changes in hydrology and soil chemistry.
Katie Goodall
Agroecology
Advisor: Ernesto Mendez
Caleb P. Goossen
Agronomy
Advisor: Sid Bosworth
Katie is currently investigating songbird distribution and conservation potential across coffee agroecosystems in the northern highlands of Nicaragua. To complete this work, Katie is collaborating with smallholder coffee cooperatives and larger family-owned plantations to train local guides in field techniques and ensure her work creates products that the farms find useful for agrotourism projects.
Caleb is researching methods of providing year round access to organic dairy feeds & forages with increased beneficial fatty acid profiles. He is also interested in vegetable crop production & breeding.
Ann Hazelrigg
Wheat
Advisor: Heather Darby
Victor Izzo
Insects and Agroecology
Advisor: Yolanda Chen
Victor Izzo explores the emergence of Colorado potato beetle as a global pest. In an attempt to reconstruct evolution of the pest form of Leptinotarsa decemlineata, Victor’s research looks to identify the major ecophysiological and genetic differences between L. decemlineata populations within the USA and ancestral populations in Mexico.
Bridgett Jamison
Soil Science
Advisor: Josef Gorres
Spaying dilute raw milk onto pastures is a novel, untested practice that has recently gained widespread prominence as a potential means of increasing forage production and quality by renovating old, deteriorated pastures. This project will investigate if foliar applications of dilute raw milk on pasture will improve the productivity, palatability and quality of pasture. The experiment will also provide graziers with a model research method that could be replicated on other farms in order to test other products and practices on pasture.
Meghan Knowles
Soil Science
Advisor: Don Ross
Meghan is interested in the carbon dynamics of Vermont forest soils. Her research focuses on earthworm invasion into forest ecosystems, and how their influence on aggregation may alter the carbon dynamics within those soils
Karen Lamoncha
Soil Ecology
Advisor: Deb Neher
Grace Matiru
Sustainable Landscape Design
Advisor: Leonard Perry
Ryan Melnichuk
Chemistry and Ecology
Advisor: Josef Gorres
Ryan's current research focuses on the effect of invasive earthworms on forest soil chemistry and resultant effects on soil ecology and vegetative ecology. Specifically, quantifying changes in biologically available metals and nutrients as well as nitrogen and carbon balances within a system. Species of interest include Lumbricus rubellus, Amynthas agrestis and Lumbricus terrestris.
Meryl Olson
Ecosystem Services in Agricultural Landscape
Advisors: Sarah Lovell and Ernesto Mendez
Meryl's research focuses on agroecological production of staple Central American crops and the contribution of agricultural biodiversity to food security. My research takes place in Tacuba, El Salvador with the coffee farmers of the ACOES cooperative.
Joshua Roberts
Horticulture
Advisor: Mark Starrett
Lindsey Ruhl
Soil Science
Advisor: Josef Gorres
Rachel Schattman
Agroecology
Advisor: V. Ernesto Mendez
Rachel's research is climate change adaptation and mitigation on Vermont farms. Of particular interest is how growers cope with increasing weed, pest and disease pressures associated with changing climatic conditions. Farmer informed research, information transfer and Extension outreach are all components of her work. Rachel also owns Bella Farm in Monkton, VT.
Annie White
Ecological Landscape Design
Advisor: Leonard Perry
Annie is interested in the mutualistic relationships between plants and pollinators and methods for incorporating native pollinator conservation into sustainable landscaping and agricultural practices. Annie’s research seeks to improve flowering plant selection for pollinator habitat enhancement by evaluating “true” open-pollinated native wildflowers, native cultivars, and non-native cultivars in terms of their ability to attract and support pollinators.
Kristin Williams
Soil Ecology and Nematology
Advisor: Deb Neher
Kristin is utilizing soil nematodes as biological indicators of soil disturbance and soil ecological status. Her thesis involves quantifying the affects of transportation roads, based on road type, on adjacent roadside and forest soils. Broadly, she is interested in sustainable transportation design, and in both this and other projects has been simultaneously involved with the Transportation Research Center at UVM.
Last modified February 22 2013 02:50 PM