UGA Griffin Campus

Office Location: 204 Cowart Building

I joined the Controlled Environment Agriculture team in 2023 as a plant breeder after serving as a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems at the University of New Hampshire. Prior to working as a lecturer and finishing my PhD, I completed my MS in Horticulture at UGA and worked extensively on farms in both North Carolina and Costa Rica. My goal is to develop cultivars of specialty crops suitable for production in controlled environments like greenhouses, high tunnels, and indoor vertical farming operations. I am starting with following up on previous work in Cucurbit breeding in crops like melon and summer squash while pursuing other crops based on industry interest and demand. Through my Extension appointment I seek to assist the CEA industry here in Georgia and beyond.

Appointments

• 70% research
  
• 25% Extension
• 5% Service

Education

• B.A. Anthropology and Environmental Studies, UNC Chapel Hill, 1998
• M.S. Horticulture, University of Georgia, 2009
• Ph.D. Agricultural Science, University of New Hampshire, 2021