People

Sotirios Archontoulis
Assistant Professor

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PostDocs

Ranae Dietzel
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Graduate Lecturer and Graduate Faculty Associate Member

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Raziel Antonio-Ordoñez
Postdoctoral Research Associate (in collaboration with Dr. Castellano)

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Heather Pasley
Postdoctoral Research Associate

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Professional

Pat Edmonds
Assistant Scientist

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Emily Wright
Research Associate (in collaboration with Dr. Licht)

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Graduate Students

Isaiah Huber
MSc Student, Computer Science

I have been working for the lab since I was an undergraduate student. In the fall of 2014, I graduated with my BSc in Computer Science. My main work has focused on the development of a biochar module with APSIM. Beyond that, I help other lab members develop scripts to use in their work and generally I am involved with other computerized projects. My current work includes calibration of the biochar model, and using PEST (Parameter Estimation by Sequential Testing) with APSIM.

Laila Puntel
PhD Student, Crop Production and Physiology
http://www.precisionclarion.com/

I am from Argentina and I graduated from the National University of Mar del Plata in Balcarce (Buenos Aires) with a BSc in Agronomy. I got my MS degree in Crop Production and Physiology at Iowa State University and I am currently pursuing my PhD degree in the same graduate program. My research is mainly focused on customizing a cropping system model as an in-season tool to support management decision making. In particular, how to better improve nitrogen management decisions in maize production systems.

Rafael Martinez-Feria
PhD Student, Crop Production and Physiology
http://rmartinezferia.weebly.com/

My main research interest is to understand how management practices affect cropping system productivity, resource-use efficiency, and environmental performance under a range of conditions. My approach is to evaluate management practices in the context of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum using combinations of measured and model-simulated data to characterize system behavior and capture patterns of spatial and/or temporal variability.

Carolina Cordova
PhD Student, Soil Science (in collaboration with Dr. Castellano)

My research interests include soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics, particularly soil organic carbon stabilization and biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in soybean. Ultimately, I am interested in the use of different approaches (15N isotopes and isolines) that can help quantify BNF. This will provide us a better understanding of the key role of BNF in soybeans as part of crop rotation systems in the Midwest, as well as the potential nitrogen carry over (nitrogen credit) that is accounted for to be used by the following crop.

Mitch Baum
MSc Student, Crop Production and Physiology (in collaboration with Dr. Licht)

I am originally from a small town near Des Moines, Iowa. I graduated with a BSc degree in Agronomy at Iowa State University. I spent most of my undergraduate program assisting research related to improving oat production in Iowa and other cropping systems. Now my focus is on quantifying how delaying planting affects corn yield.

Ashlyn Kessler
MSc Student, Crop Production and Physiology (in collaboration with Dr. Licht)

I am originally from Walcott, Iowa, and in the spring of 2017, I graduated with a BSc in Agronomy from Iowa State University. My research involves evaluating how different maturity groups and planting dates affect soybean yield in Iowa.

Virginia Nichols
PhD Student, Crop Production and Physiology (in collaboration with Dr. Liebman)

I am from a lovely town in Colorado. I am interested in using systems-based thinking (with the help of APSIM) to explore differences in how simplified versus complex cropping systems function, and in biking down any bump in Iowa I can find.

Makis Danalatos
MSc Student, Soil Science/Crop Physiology and ProductionCrop Production and Physiology

Alumni

Javed Iqbal (2016-2017)
Postdoc (in collaboration with Dr. Castellano)

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Kati Togliatti (2015-2017)
MSc Student, Agricultural Meteorology (in collaboration with Dr. VanLoocke)

Research thesis topic: How does inclusion of weather forecasting impact in-season crop model predictions?