Soil Fertility Team

 

Manbir Rakkar

Assistant Professor of Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management

rakkar.4@osu.edu

131 Williams Hall

1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, OH 44691

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current Members


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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.

 

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Louceline Fleuridor, Postdoctoral Scholar

 

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Jaspreet Singh, M.S. Student 

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Naiima Abdi, Student Intern

Naiima Abdi is an undergraduate student at The Ohio State University, currently pursuing her bachelor's degree after earning an associate’s degree in Biology. As a participant in the DOSU (Destination Ohio State University) program, Naiima is gaining valuable research experience through a student intern position at the Soil Fertility Lab under the guidance of Dr. Aline de Camargo Santos. She is eager to deepen her understanding of soil science, expand her practical skills, and contribute to the lab’s research on crop production, soil health, and nutrient management. 

 


Valeria Genara Moreira Moreira, Visiting Scholar

Valeria is a visiting scholar from Ecuador. She graduated from Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL) in Agricultural and Biological Engineering in 2021. In 2022 she 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, she's 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, her research at ESPOL involves the application of soil amendments and micronutrients aiming to mitigate high Cd pollution in cacao plantations. She has experience working in the laboratory, mostly from the Soil and Plant Nutrition Laboratory at ESPOL, where she has learned how to process soil and plant samples, and to conduct chemical analysis. She is happy to start a new position at OSU's Soil Fertility Laboratory to expand her skills and abilities on soil and plant sciences that will enable her 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

 

Roger Downer, Research Associate
downer.2@osu.edu

Roger has a PhD in Biology from The University of Portsmouth (UK) 1998. Thesis title “The impact of spray modifiers on pesticide dose transfer”. Prior to moving from England to join the Laboratory for Pest Control Application Technology at The Ohio State University in 1989, Roger spent 20 years in the Agrochemical Industry as an entomologist but with a significant input into and interest in pesticide application. He has traveled to many parts of the world carrying out insecticide development field trials primarily in cotton. For the past 25 + years he has been involved in a wide range of projects including research into the role, use and effectiveness of adjuvants in crop protection with a special interest in drift management. He joined the Doohan Weed Lab in November 2011 where he is involved in a variety of projects including laboratory and field performance evaluation of adjuvants and formulations for weed control. Roger is also involved in projects and organizations evaluating the role of pollinators in agricultural crop production and the effect pesticides have on those pollinators. He is currently a co-chair of the Pollinator Partnership task force on pesticides.

Former Lab Leaders


 

Leonardo Deiss

Assistant Professor in Soil Science and Nutrient Management

Department of Soil and Crop Sciences

Colorado State University

l.deiss@colostate.edu

Building: Plant Sciences, Room: 136

Fort Collins, CO 80523
 

 

Steve Culman

Director of the Central Oregon Agricultural Research and Extension Center

Oregon State University

culmans@oregonstate.edu

Central Oregon Agriculture Research and Extension Center

850 NW Dogwood Lane

Madras, OR 97741-8988

 

Former Lab Members


Graduate Students

Brehm Pugliese Zone Gonzalez
Theresa Brehm
M.S. 2022
Jennie Pugliese,
M.S. 2017
Phoo Pye Zone,
M.S. 2018
Noely Gonzalez-Maldonado,
M.S. 2019
Wade Fleuridor    
Jordon Wade,
Ph.D. 2019
Louceline Fleuridor
Ph.D. 2022
   

Postdoctoral Researchers

Fulford Chaganti Hurisso Sprunger
Anthony Fulford
Extension Advisor,
University of California
Vijay Chaganti
PostDoc Researcher,
Texas A&M
Tunsisa Hurriso
Assistant Professor,
Lincoln University
Christine Sprunger
Associate Professor,
Michigan State University
Osterholz
Will Osterholz
Research Scientist,
USDA-ARS

Samaneh_

Samaneh Tajik
Post Doctoral Scholar,
The Ohio State University


Research Staff

Herman Gutierrez Manriquez Hoekstra Mann
Bethany Fortune
Lab Manager
Camila Gutierrez Manriquez
Research Scholar
Nicole Hoekstra
Research Associate
Meredith Mann
Research Assistant
Sharma Saeed Reynen Nyamai
Stuti Sharma
Research Assistant 

Muhammad Tariq Saeed
Visiting Scholar

Kenzie Reynen
Research Assistant
Priscilla Nyamai
Research Associate

 

Dygert Gingery  
Clay Dygert
Research Associate
Mason Gingery, Research Assistant  
       
       

VISITING SCHOLARS

Berenice Montano (Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School)

Summer Interns

Elliot Edwards (College of Wooster), Faheem Ali (Case Western University),  Aista Sall (University of South Florida), Nakian Kim (Rice University), Otto Oppenheimer Lugo (University of Puerto Rico), Andrew Herzog (Ohio State), Samantha Wander (Ohio State), Noely Gonzalez-Maldonado (University of Puerto Rico), Madison Campbell (Ohio State).

Undergraduate Student Assistants

Alyson Holzworth, Grace Chapman, Caroline Bensman, Brady Linker, Cassian Filbrun, Nick LaRue, Ryan Hayes, Grant Ratliff, Cassie Reed, Annamarie Davies, Hannah Johnson, Lexie Popejoy, Brenden Tully, Jodi Livesay, Kristina Workinger.