Welcome to Our New Graduate Students: Theresa and Louceline!

June 15, 2020

Welcome to our two new graduate students for fall of 2020!

Theresa will be persuing her Master's degree and Louceline will be working towards her Ph.D. A little bit about each student and was their research will be can be found below.

 

Theresa Brehm

Hello! My name is Theresa Brehm, and I grew up on a dairy farm in Northeastern Iowa with my three sisters, a brother, and lots of cows, chickens, goats, cats, and dogs. Ever since I was little, I’ve loved agriculture and getting my hands dirty on the farm, but I also loved seeing how agriculture is different in different places. I am a recent graduate of Iowa State University, with a double degree in Global Resource Systems and Environmental Science, with a minor in Agronomy. Altogether, those degrees basically mean I studied how different systems of the world are interconnected and impact each other, like how environmental processes are impacted and impact politics, food security, and community development, for example. During my time as an undergrad, I traveled abroad for agricultural internships and service-learning experiences in Peru, Uganda, and India, which inspired me to study soil science as the main aspect of my Master’s project. I found Steve and the Culman lab from reading papers on international carbon cycling and learning about POXC. For my Master’s project, I will be studying the impact of pipeline installation on soils and crop production around Ohio. I’m excited to be here and work with local farmers!

My name is Louceline Fleuridor, I am originally from Haiti. I received my bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering from Zamorano University in Honduras, and my MS in Horticulture and Crop Science from The Ohio State University. Prior joining Dr. Culman lab, I worked as a research assistant in the Weed Ecology and Rhizosphere Dynamic labs, designing and executing several on-farm, on-station, and greenhouse experiments, that included the evaluation of fertilization programs to decrease nutrient run-off, ecological weed control using interspecific competition and seed bank monitoring. Current research interests involve developing and improving soil health methodologies and exploring how different management practices affect soil health and ecosystem services, particularly the effect of tillage, continuous and intensive corn production for biofuel production. I am very happy to join Dr. Culman’s team, there’s a great balance of personal and professional growth, ease to communicate and explore new ideas, just a very supportive and healthy lab environment where research is just enjoyable!

Louceline Fleuridor