Soil Fertility Team

Leo Deiss

Visiting Assistant Professor
deiss.8@osu.edu

Leo's Google Scholar Profile

Leo is a professor with focus in ecology, agriculture, and soil science. His main goal is to develop soil health and management solutions for agriculture and other working landscapes.

Current Members

Samaneh Tajik, Postdoctoral Scholar

Samaneh is a postdoctoral researcher in perennial grain cropping systems at the Ohio State University. She is a soil scientist and data analyst whose scientific interests are on discovering relationships among environmental parameters using linear and nonlinear models and machine learning. Her current research is focused on exploring the impact of agricultural system design and management on soil health parameters, grain, and forage yield of Kernza. In addition, as a part of two USDA-funded projects, she will bridge organic and non-organic field research with environmental and enterprise budget data from several field sites located across the US.

Aline de Camargo Santos, Postdoctoral Scholar

Aline started her career in agricultural research as an agronomist in 2012 at the University of São Paulo. She continued her studies, earning a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Florida in the summers of 2019 and 2023, respectively. Throughout her career journey, she has focused on plant and soil nutrition, plant ecophysiology, and crop stress resilience. Her ultimate goal is to use her multidisciplinary training to conduct research that has a positive impact on farmers and enables collaboration with researchers at local, regional, and international levels. The primary objective of her research is the development of affordable technologies and strategies to overcome the many adversities that affect farmers. Additionally, she looks forward to improving science communication, which she sees as a way to translate scientific findings into practical results that meet the needs of farmers.

Valeria Genara Moreira Moreira, Visiting Scholar

I’m a visiting scholar from Ecuador. I graduated from Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL) in Agricultural and Biological Engineering in 2021. In 2022 I started working as a research assistant at ESPOL, in a project focused on cadmium contamination in cacao production systems in Ecuador. As part of this project, I've been developing field activities such as soil sampling and  laboratory analyses, as well as conducting plant community surveys in the field, to identify areas with high and/or low cadmium concentrations, and evaluate their effect on cacao performance and cadmium levels. Additionally, my research at ESPOL involves the application of soil amendments and micronutrients aiming to mitigate high Cd pollution in cacao plantations. I have experience in working in the laboratory, mostly from the Soil and Plant Nutrition Laboratory at ESPOL, where I've learned how to process soil and plant samples, and to conduct chemical analysis. I’m happy to start a new position at OSU's Soil Fertility Laboratory to expand my skills and abilities on soil and plant sciences that will enable me to grow up professionally. This is a great opportunity to learn more about perennial grain cropping systems, Ohio-based regenerative agricultural systems, and soil health and nutrient management.

Elizabeth Gilson, Student Assistant

Elizabeth is an undergraduate student at Ohio State University, studying Agronomy. Elizabeth has achieved her associate's and is pursuing her bachelor's degree. She worked for the OARDC research greenhouses under the Horticulture and Crop Science department for two years. Elizabeth is interested in soil fertility and the effects of nutrient runoff on crops and the surrounding environment. She hopes to gain experience with IR Spectroscopy and soil analysis applications at the Soil Fertility Lab!

Ben Robinson, Research Associate
robinson.1757@osu.edu

Former Lab Leaders

Steve Culman Associate Professor and Distinguished Endowed Chair Soil Health in Potato Cropping Systems Washington State University Department of Crop and Soil Sciences steven.culman@wsu.edu 509-335-7771 333 Clark Hall PO Box 646420, Pullman, WA 99164

Muhammad Tariq Saeed
Visiting Scholar