LAB MEMBERS
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Dr. Chris Wilson
GLOBAL CHANGE AGROECOLOGIST - ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Originally hailing from Ann Arbor Michigan, Chris H. Wilson attended New College of Florida in Sarasota from 2005-2009 for his undergraduate degree focused on ecology, applied mathematics, and agricultural studies. He subsequently spent a year on a cattle ranch in South Central Florida as a research intern for Archbold Biological Station.
After two years engaged in small scale agriculture in New England, he returned to Florida, this time for his PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Florida, from 2012-2017. His PhD research and training focused on better understanding how management influences soil carbon on Florida ranchlands, and hence their potential for climate change mitigation.
Subsequently, he was an adjunct instructor in the Agronomy Department at the University of Florida, then a USDA NIFA postdoctoral fellow with Michael Strickland at the University of Idaho, before assuming his present position as Global Change Agroecologist -Assistant Professor in July 2018.
Overall, his doctoral, post-doctoral, and current research program focus is on how to study critical ecosystem processes and properties across management-relevant spatial and temporal scales using a combination of small-scale plot experiments, satellite remote sensing data, and hierarchical statistical models.
As an educator, he is passionate about teaching agroecology as a comprehensive, interdisciplinary science for understanding and improving our agricultural and food systems, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.40% Research | 60% Teaching
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Emily Pappo
PHD STUDENT
Emily Pappo earned her BA in Environmental Studies from New York University in 2012. Her undergraduate research focused on organic coffee production in Rondônia, Brazil, and after graduating she went on to work in the coffee industry on coffee farms and as a roaster and green buyer before beginning graduate school at the University of Florida in 2017. She earned her Master of Science in Agronomy with a concentration in Agroecology from the University of Florida in 2019, and is now a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Ecology Program, co-advised by Dr. Luke Flory and Dr. Chris Wilson. Broadly, Emily is interested in understanding the ways in which coffee production and quality could be impacted by climate change, and identifying farm-level strategies for coffee producers to build resilience.
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Hannah Rusch
PHD STUDENT
Hannah joined the Agronomy Department in August 2019 in pursuit of a PhD with a concentration in Global Systems Agroecology. Her research explores diversification as a means of sustainable intensification in warm-season perennial pasture systems. Currently, she studies nutrient dynamics and productivity in multiple forage systems in north central Florida. Hannah received her M.S. in Applied Plant Sciences from the University of Minnesota, where she investigated cover crops in corn and soybean cropping systems. Her inspiration to study agriculture derives from family history, a background in environmental sciences, and practicing tropical agriculture in Costa Rica.
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Hunter Smith
PHD STUDENT
Hunter is interested in leveraging remote sensing data to improve management of agricultural systems. His current research is the estimation and forecasting of forage quantity and quality from satellite imagery. The goal of this project is to provide a tool for Florida ranchers to optimize grazing management, thereby improving profitability and delivery of ecosystem services.
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Whalen Dillon
POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE
Whalen is a data wrangler and analyst using R for science across the spectrum of ecology and ecosystems.
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Jason Hickman
MASTERS STUDENT
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Stacy Smith
BIOLOGICAL SCIENTIST IV
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Undergraduate Interns and Employees
Shelby Kucharski, Spencer Hupp, Amber Riner, Armando Santamaria, Ryan Kerrigan, Chase Benezette, Adil Rahman, Hannah Shareen
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Alumni
Emily Deruelle, Mikal Wegener