Post-doc
udm3@cornell.edu
Education
B.S. Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems, Montana State University, 2018.
M.Sc. Soil and Crop Science, Cornell University, 2020.
Ph.D. Soil & Crop Science, Cornell University, 2023.
Research Interests
I seek to improve the adaptability of organic no-till farming by researching the interactions between weed communities and crops. My work focuses on cover crop mulching, crop selection, and crop-weed competition. I incorporate elements of agronomy, ecology, and data science in my research and am always interested in interdisciplinary collaborations.
Research with the lab
As a master’s, doctorate, and now a post-doctorate member of the Cornell sustainable cropping systems lab, I’ve had the pleasure of studying cropping systems through various lenses.
During my master’s, I focused on the effect of crop diversity on weed crop competition. This research described if increasing crop diversity through intercropping affected soil microbial communities in ways that would impact weed-crop competition.
As a doctoral student, I worked on the agronomics of organic no-till systems. I sought to reduce tillage through cover crop mulching and the use of perennial grains. My work described the agronomics, profitability, and ecology of these systems.
In my post-doctorate, I continue to focus on tillage reduction in organic systems and seek to describe effective no-till crop sequences. Another focus of my post-doctorate is the development of my teaching skills. I am co-teaching a multi-university cover crop course taught at six universities across the United States. I am developing course material alongside a multidisciplinary team of instructors and writing several teaching manuscripts based on the course.