Robert Hardin is an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University. Dr. Hardin's research involves developing intelligent machine systems for agricultural production and processing. To meet the demands of the agricultural sector, his work has focused on integrating robust, low-cost sensing systems with statistical and physical models for automation and process control. He has conducted research on optimizing cotton processing, with a particular focus on increasing energy efficiency. He has also studied how plant genetics, environmental and management factors, and processing technology interact to affect energy use and product quality. Dr. Hardin has also conducted research in precision agriculture and measuring efficiency of novel agricultural machinery systems.
Seshadri Ramkumar is currently a full professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology at Texas Tech University. His research focuses on developing value-added materials using nonwoven and nanotechnology. He supervises the Nonwoven and Advanced Materials Laboratory at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health, TTU. He currently holds two US patents and two US pending applications. He is the editor of a comprehensive magazine on technical textiles: Nonwoven and Technical Textiles that will be published from Fall 2007. He is the editorial board chairman of Nonwoven and Technical Textiles Journal. He serves in the editorial boards of three international peer-reviewed journals. He is the Co-chairman of The Association of Nonwoven Industry’s India committee. He has successfully organized four international conferences on advances in fibrous materials. To date, he has graduated 13 MS and PhD students at Texas Tech University. His research on nonwoven decontamination wipe has resulted in technology transfer and will be commercialized very soon.
Rupinder Saini is Research Assistant Professor of Weed Science at Texas Tech University. Prior to joining the Tech faculty, Dr. Saini served as a John Allwright Fellow at The University of Adelaide in Australia, and a research associate in the Department of Agronomy at Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana, India. Dr. Saini received her bachelor's degree in agriculture from Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, India, and a master's degree in agronomy from Punjab Agricultural University. Her doctorate in weed science is from The University of Adelaide. Recent honors for Dr. Saini include a dean's commendation for doctoral thesis excellence from The University of Adelaide (2016). Dr. Saini is interested in the development of integrated strategies for weed management in specialty crops (vegetable, ornamental, turf, and grape production). The management of weeds in most of these crops is complicated by the limited number of herbicide options as well as carryover concerns. Therefore, her research goal is to improve horticultural crop performance by minimizing the impact of weed populations.
Mahendra Bhandari is an Assistant Professor of Digital Agriculture at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center. Mahendra Bahadri, Ph.D.’s research lies on the intersection of agronomy/crop physiology and the use of technologies to investigate the physiological and biophysical processes involved in genetics, environment, and management interactions. The overall goal is to utilize emerging technologies and associated data analytics to develop data driven tools for genotype selection, cropping system design, and crop management decisions. Specific research areas include remote sensing (Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), satellite imagery, and ground sensors), big data analytics, high throughput phenotyping for improved response to biotic and abiotic stresses, and precision agriculture for predictive and prescriptive management of irrigation, fertilizer, growth regulators, and harvest-aid chemicals. The program conducts small plot research as well as on-farm research trials of cotton, corn, and sorghum to develop test beds and evaluate the performance of data driven tools.
Andrew Wright is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and the Extension economist for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Lubbock. He is also a member of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association and the Agriculture and Applied Economics Association. Before joining AgriLife, Andrew was a faculty member in the Department of Agriculture at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas; there, he taught multiple courses in agricultural economics and agribusiness and advised both undergraduate and graduate students. Andrew has a BA in economics from Truman State University and a master’s in public administration, an MA in economics, and a PhD in agricultural and applied economics from Texas Tech University.
Josh McGinty has served as Extension Agronomist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension at Corpus Christi, TX since 2014. He provides leadership for Extension programming and applied research in field crops and forages across south Texas.
ChrisRock is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Texas Tech University. Research Interests include plant molecular genetics, growth and development; abscisic acid and biotic/abiotic stress signal transduction; plant microRNAs and non-coding RNAs; translational science.
Michael Brewer is a professor of entomology. His research and education interests bridge across integrated pest management, invasive species ecology and field crops entomology. Brewer works on priority and emerging pest management issues relevant to fiber and grain crops and regional and national goals in insect pest management, crop protection, and agroecosystem stewardship. His mission-oriented focus is on transforming research findings undergirded by population, landscape, and invasive species ecology to IPM approaches that improves management of field crop pest and beneficial insects. Mike’s most recent research projects have been on ecology and management of sugarcane aphid on sorghum, sucking bugs of cotton and lepidopterans pests of corn. He has published 140 articles and 10 book chapters. Over the past eight years he has attracted over $2.1M dollars in support of his research program and over $5.2 million of program support across his career. Brewer is co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Economic Entomology and Associate Editor of Frontiers in Insect Science-Invasive Species section.
Paul DeLaune is an Associate Professor and Environmental Soil Scientist at Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Vernon, Texas. He obtained his MS and PhD in Agronomy/Soil Science at the University of Arkansas and his BS in Agronomy from Oklahoma State University. Since joining Texas A&M AgriLife Research in 2007, Dr. DeLaune has focused on protecting water resources while maintaining agricultural production goals. Research topics include evaluating tillage and water management strategies in various cropping systems to improve nutrient and water use efficiencies, crop yields, soil health, and subsequent groundwater and surface water quality. Additionally, Dr. DeLaune has focused on the impact and adaptability of various cool-season and warm-season cover crop monospecies and mixtures on stored soil moisture and nutrient cycling in semi-arid cropping systems. He enjoys working directly with producers to learn of current issues first hand and develop applied research programs to meet critical needs.
Gunvant Patil is an expert in genetic engineering, quantitative genetics and translational genomics, he is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance and Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at Texas Tech University. Dr. Patil received his B.S. degree from North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, India and his M.S. and Ph. D. degrees from the University of Pune and National Center for Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, India. Prior to joining the Tech faculty, Patil served as a research scientist at the University of Minnesota-St. Paul. He also worked as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and a visiting researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden.
Lindsey Slaughter is an Associate Professor of Soil Microbial Ecology/Biochemistry. Dr. Lindsey Slaughter joined the PSS faculty in September 2016, and specializes in studying soil ecology and plant-soil interactions. She serves as an Associate Professor for the Plant and Soil Science Department’s introductory soil science course for undergraduates, and teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses in soil microbial ecology and biochemistry. Dr. Slaughter received her bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of Tennessee-Martin, and her master's degree in Plant and Soil Sciences is from the University of Kentucky. Her doctorate in Soil Science is from the University of Kentucky. She is a member of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, and the Ecological Society of America.
Katie L. Lewis is an agricultural and environmental soil scientist and continually striving to enhance her understanding of the critical challenges currently facing agriculture and society. As the daughter of a South Texas farmer (Taft, San Patricio County), she was introduced at a young age to these challenges of sustainable agriculture and how they affect society. Dr. Lewis considers soil to be one of our most valuable natural resources, with the ability to produce food, feed and fiber, recycle wastes, filter and break down contaminants, and sequester carbon. As an assistant professor of soil chemistry and fertility at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas Tech University, Dr. Lewis is provided the opportunity through research and service to enhance the agricultural sustainability of the Texas High Plains region that is vitally important to both Texas and the nation, while helping educate future scientists, farmers, society, and policy-makers. Dr. Lewis received her BS in chemistry from Sam Houston State University in 2008. She received her MS and PhD in 2010 and 2014, respectively, from Texas A&M University. With a joint appointment at Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Lubbock (75% research) and Texas Tech University (25% teaching), Dr. Lewis is deeply engaged in research, teaching and service.
Touhidur Rahman Anik is a Research Assistant in the Department of Plant and Soil Science, at Texas Tech University.
Matthew G. Siebecker is Assistant Professor of Applied Environmental Soil Chemistry at Texas Tech University. Prior to joining Texas Tech University (TTU), Dr. Siebecker was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Delaware. From 2016 to 2018 he worked in the Delaware Environmental Institute and the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences in Newark, DE, carrying out research in environmental soil chemistry. From 2014-2016 he worked in Lewes, DE as a postdoctoral research associate in chemical oceanography, focusing on trace element marine geochemistry in the School of Marine Science and Policy. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Soil Chemistry from the University of Delaware in 2014. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst in 2006 with a double major in Environmental Science and Plant and Soil Sciences. He is a member of the Soil Science Society of America, the Geochemical Society, and the America Chemical Society. He is fluent in Spanish and spent significant time in Chile and Costa Rica.
Hong Zhang is a Professor of Molecular Biology and Plant Biotechnololgy at Texas Tech University. I received my undergraduate education at Sichuan University of China from 1978 to 1982, and then I served as a junior faculty at Sichuan University for one year. In 1983, I went to Michigan State University for graduate study. I studied under the guidance of Dr. Chris Somerville in the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory from 1983 to 1989. After receiving Ph.D. degree, I went to Dr. Howard Goodman's laboratory at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to do postdoctoral research. In 1995, I established my own laboratory at Texas Tech University. My laboratory is located in the Experimental Sciences Building and there are 8 graduate students, one postdoctoral fellow, one visiting scholar, and several undergraduate students conducting research in my laboratory. We study plant molecular biology and plant cell biology. We are also using genetic engineering approach to improve crop yield and quality under stress conditions. I welcome students who share similar research interests to apply graduate study in my laboratory.
Wayne Keeling is the Project Leader for Systems, Agronomy, and Weed Science with Texas A&M AgriLife Research at Lubbock. Along with cropping system and weed research trials, Dr. Keeling has conducted a wide range of cotton harvest and trials for almost 30 years. He obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees from Texas Tech University and served on the Beltwide Cotton Harvest Aid Working Group.
Rosalyn Shim is an Assistant Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Texas Tech University. Dr. Rosalyn A. Shim officially joined the Plant and Soil Science faculty in April 2017 as an Assistant Professor for Breeding and Genetics. Prior to joining Texas Tech, Dr. Shim worked as a research faculty in the Laboratory of Plant Molecular Biosystems in Nagoya University, with a courtesy appointment at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. Dr. Shim received her bachelor's degree in Biology and master's degree in Genetics (minor in Plant Breeding) from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños in the Philippines. Her doctorate in Agricultural Sciences is from the Nagoya University inJapan. She is a member of the Philippine Society for the Advancement of Genetics and Crop Science Society of the Philippines. She also currently serves as an Honorary Scientist and Advisor on Agricultural Science and Technology in Rural Development Administration of the Republic of Korea.
