Session 1
Dr. Kathleen Boomer is a scientific program director for the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research and is responsible for developing programs in sustainable water management. Before joining FFAR, Boomer served as the lead watershed scientist for the Nature Conservancy’s Chesapeake Bay Project, and she continues to serve as the Chair of the USEPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program’s Scientific Technical Advisory Committee. Boomer brings extensive experience in landscape modeling and biogeochemical research and a passion for advancing science-based decision-making in resource management.
Mel Luymes is the Executive Director of the Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario (LICO) and coordinated the partners of the Huronview drainage project since 2018. As a freelancer, communicator and project manager, she has worked with several Conservation Authorities, researchers, farm organizations and farmers on agri-environmental projects in Ontario related to soil health, drainage and manure management.
Dr. Gary Feyereisen is a Research Agricultural Engineer at the USDA-ARS Soil and Water Management Research Unit, St. Paul, MN, having received Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Feyereisen is currently working in the areas of edge-of-field tile drainage conservation practices and stacking of nutrient reduction strategies to minimize agricultural impacts on water quality while optimizing production. He has over 20 years of soil and water research experience with 70 peer-reviewed articles published. He was a key researcher to push the envelope of denitrifying bioreactor performance in cold climates and the first to demonstrate use of carbon dosing in woodchip denitrifying bioreactors. Gary has held numerous society leadership positions and currently serves on the American Society of Agronomy’s Board of Directors. Additionally, Dr. Feyereisen has shared his skills in the developing world. Prior to entering graduate school as a non-traditional student, Gary spent 20 years in industry, leading a cross-disciplinary team that developed the nation’s most innovative window and door product for the world’s largest residential window manufacturer.
Alan Gillespie serves as the National Water Management Engineer for the NRCS Conservation Engineering Division in Washington, DC. Alan’s time in civil service started as a student trainee in Florida, continued as an area engineer, national emergency watershed protection program manager and most recently the State Conservation Engineer in Rhode Island. Alan graduated from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering and is a licensed professional engineer. This background and experience in providing conservation technical assistance to private landowners and agricultural stakeholders gave Alan a deep appreciation for how natural resource stewards improve the quality of life for us all.
Katie Flahive is an agricultural engineer with the Nonpoint Source Management Program at EPA Headquarters. She works with federal, state, nonprofit and industry partners that research, develop, implement, track and measure the results of voluntary and/or incentive based controls to improve water quality in agricultural and rural areas, and coordinates the Hypoxia Task Force as the federal co-chair of the Coordinating Committee.
Session 2
Jane Frankenberger is a Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University. As a researcher and Extension specialist she works to advance conservation drainage design and management while delivering tools and strategies to stakeholders who can use them to inform decision making. She led the Transforming Drainage project that has increased understanding and implementation of conservation drainage strategies across the Midwest. She earned a B.A. from St. Olaf College, an M.S. from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University.
Ehsan Ghane received his Ph.D. from Ohio State where he worked on conservation drainage practices. Then he worked as a postdoc at U of M (the other one) for one year. He does research and extension in the areas of water quality and agricultural drainage to address agricultural water management issues related to non-point source pollution, that is phosphorus. Currently, he’s working on an edge-of-field drainage research in Lenawee County where he’s quantifying the benefits of controlled drainage and a saturated buffer.
Kelly Nelson is an Agronomy Professor based ta the Greenley Research Center, Novelty, MO. His research is focused on increased agronomic production needs specific to Northeast Missouri. Nelson conducts applied research in crop production systems, alternative crops, pest management and tile drainage. He also collaborates with campus-based faculty, growers and industry representatives. His research emphasizes the integration of crop production systems with the economic realities of farm management.
Dr. John McMaine is an assistant professor and water management engineer extension state specialist in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering department at South Dakota State University. He received his PhD in Biosystems Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He received BS and MS degrees in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering from the University of Kentucky. His research and outreach interests center around agricultural and urban water management and water quality. In his current role, he researches water management technologies that are environmentally and economically sustainable and provides guidance for stakeholders to implement practices that improve water management and water quality.
Session 3
Matt Helmers is the Director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, the Dean’s Professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and a Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University. His research areas include studies on the impact of nutrient management, cropping practices, drainage management, and prairie strips on nutrient export from agricultural landscapes.
Vinayak Shedekar is a Research Scientist in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering (FABE) at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. He also serves as the coordinator of the International Program for Water Management in Agriculture and the Overholt Drainage Education and Research Program in FABE. He works at the intersection of soil health and agricultural water management for water quality and agricultural sustainability. His current research is focused on monitoring and modeling of soil health, hydrology, and water quality from field- to watershed-scales.
Abigail Tomasek is an assistant professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and is the statewide Soil Water Quality Extension Specialist at Oregon State University. She has worked locally and internationally on the effects of land management practices on soil and water quality, and she is broadly interested in developing and implementing practices that promote agricultural productivity while maintaining environmental health. In her extension role, she is interested in learning from and working alongside the agricultural community to co-create adaptive, lasting, and sustainable agricultural practices.
Morgan Davis is an assistant professor of soil and environmental science in the School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri. He received his BS and MS degrees from the University of Illinois in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and his PhD from Iowa State University in Environmental Science. His research is centered around soil biogeochemistry in the context of ecological sustainability. The objective of his research is investigating nutrient and energy cycles in both managed and natural ecosystems. This work provides insights for improving sustainability and contributes to foundational biogeochemistry knowledge. He is particularly interested in nitrogen and carbon transformations in forested and agronomic ecosystems. Specific research interests include the following: greenhouse gas emissions, soil health, soil organic matter, cover crops, tillage management, nitrate leaching, microbial communities, denitrification, indirect nitrous oxide emissions, riparian buffers, drainage water recycling, and woodchip bioreactors.
Aaron Frankl is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. He studies nitrogen cycling in drained fields located in NW Minnesota.
Kyle Sherbine is a graduate research assistant at the University of Minnesota. He studies carbon cycling in newly tile drained fields in northwest Minnesota.
Session 4
FALASY Anamelechi raduate research assistant & Ph.D. student, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Research Interests-Subsurface Drainage Systems Design and 3D Terrain Dataset Validation. Current Projects-Development of Drainage Design Tools in QGIS and Optimizing Subsurface Drainage Layout Routines and Automation.
Kristen Almen is a Water Resources Research and Outreach Associate at South Dakota State University. She earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Environmental Science from North Dakota State University.
Session 5
Mark Williams, USDA-ARS NSERL, West Lafayette, IN
Dr. Chad Penn is a research scientist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in West Lafayette, and adjunct professor in the Department of Agronomy at Purdue University. Before joining USDA in 2016, he was professor of soil and environmental chemistry at Oklahoma State University since 2005. His current research is focused on soil chemistry and fertility for improving plant nutrient recommendations, nutrient transport, thermodynamics of surface reactions, design and construction of phosphorus removal structures, animal waste management, and use of gypsum in agriculture.
Dr. William Ford is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY. Before joining UK in 2017, he was an Assistant Professor at Marshall University from 2015-2016 and a postdoc at the USDA-ARS Soil Drainage Research Unit from 2014-2015. His current research is focused on watershed-scale water quality monitoring and modeling in tile-drained and karst agroecosystems. His research program makes use of advances in high-frequency sensors, isotopic tracers, machine learning, and process-based modeling to study dissolved and particulate bound nutrient source fate and transport dynamics.
Dr. Tanja Williamson is a research hydrologist who integrates applied resource management with fundamental, process-based science. Her current research focuses on storage & transport of water, sediment, and nutrients in agricultural, developed, and forested landscapes. Tanja joined the Kentucky Water Science Center in 2006 and continues to be a part of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana WSC, where she develops both local and regional research with collaborators from USGS, universities, and other agencies.
Hannah Field is a master’s student at The Ohio State University. Hannah received a B.S. in Geology with a minor in Mathematics from Appalachian State University in 2020. Hannah’s research focuses on the transport of nutrients in agricultural headwater streams. She also completed the 2021 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Directorate Fellows Program, where her research focused on the impacts of climate fluctuation and water extraction activities on surface water inflows to the Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge. She has also served as a teaching assistant for courses focused on water resource issues.
Dr. Merrin Macrae is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (commencing 2006). She specializes in hydrological controls on biogeochemical processes. Her research interests center around nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus) dynamics and water quality in agricultural landscapes and wetlands. Dr. Macrae studies water quality at both watershed and field scales, with an emphasis on understanding the impacts of assisted or modified land drainage.
Session 6
Vinayak Shedekar is a Research Scientist in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering (FABE) at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. He also serves as the coordinator of the International Program for Water Management in Agriculture and the Overholt Drainage Education and Research Program in FABE. He works at the intersection of soil health and agricultural water management for water quality and agricultural sustainability. His current research is focused on monitoring and modeling of soil health, hydrology, and water quality from field- to watershed-scales.
Jon Witter is an Associate Professor in the Agricultural and Engineering Technologies Division and is currently serving as the Interim Chair in the Horticulture Division at Ohio State ATI. He coordinates the Crop Management and Soil Conservation specializations and teaches courses in Agricultural Equipment, Precision Ag, and Soil and Water Conservation. He also oversees the crops and agronomy Practicum and Internship courses. His educational background includes degrees in Land Surveying, Civil Engineering, and Agricultural Engineering. Jon’s research is focused on management strategies for streams and agricultural ditches.
Mike Pniewski is the elected Lucas County Engineer in Toledo, Ohio. He is responsible for maintaining roads, bridges, and drainage in the unincorporated portions of Lucas County. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and Professional Surveyor in Ohio. Mike has over 25 years of experience in the public and private sector managing and designing infrastructure projects across the United States. He has a BS and MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan, a BS in Land Surveying from Michigan Technological University and an MBA from Bowling Green State University.
Jennifer Tank is the Galla Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and Director of the Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative. Dr. Tank is an aquatic ecologist and biogeochemist who studies how nutrients and carbon move through streams and rivers, with a focus on innovative restoration and conservation that informs management and policy of freshwaters. Dr. Tank is committed to science leadership and translation; she served as President of the Society for Freshwater Science (2018-2019) and was elected a 2020 AAAS Fellow.
Seth Harden grew up in central Indiana and received his Bachelors Degree of Forestry in 2010 from Purdue University. While at Purdue he focused his studies on natural resource management and environmental policy. Seth completed his MS in Public Affairs, with a concentration in environmental policy analysis, from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI in 2019. Previous experience includes employment with the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and Indiana Farm Bureau Incorporated. Seth lives with his wife and children in Westfield, IN, which they consider their home and base for adventures across the country and globe. The Wabash River is steeped in history, both natural and anthropogenic. It is the longest free flowing river in the eastern half of the United States, giving it unique qualities for recreation, wildlife, and research. Historically, it divided the Eastern Woodlands from the Western Prairies, but is now surrounded by some of the richest agricultural land in the world. The Nature Conservancy and other advocates discover barriers and opportunities in the watershed daily. We seek to develop solutions that balance the environmental, economic, and social equations. Our work is often focused on agriculture, the dominant sector in the Wabash River Basin. As we work to accomplish positive environmental outcomes, we also seek solutions that help farmers be more productive and efficient.
Jessica D’Ambrosio joined The Nature Conservancy in 2016 and currently serves as the Ohio Agriculture Director. She brings a broad range of experience in wildlife and fisheries management, hydrology, agricultural open channel design, and soil and water resources to The Conservancy’s focus of nonpoint source nutrient reduction and climate adaptation strategies. Jessica has a Master’s degree in environmental science and a PhD in agriculture engineering from The Ohio State University. Jessica serves on the Board of Supervisors for the Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District and the Ohio Agriculture Conservation Initiative.
Session 7
Vinayak Shedekar is a Research Scientist in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering (FABE) at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. He also serves as the coordinator of the International Program for Water Management in Agriculture and the Overholt Drainage Education and Research Program in FABE. He works at the intersection of soil health and agricultural water management for water quality and agricultural sustainability. His current research is focused on monitoring and modeling of soil health, hydrology, and water quality from field- to watershed-scales.
Ehsan Ghane received his Ph.D. from Ohio State where he worked on conservation drainage practices. Then he worked as a postdoc at U of M (the other one) for one year. He does research and extension in the areas of water quality and agricultural drainage to address agricultural water management issues related to non-point source pollution, that is phosphorus. Currently, he’s working on an edge-of-field drainage research in Lenawee County where he’s quantifying the benefits of controlled drainage and a saturated buffer.
Dr. Gurbir Singh is an Assistant Professor and State Extension Specialist in Applied Soil Science-Agroecology and Landscape Position Management at the Lee Greenley Jr. Research Center (GRC), University of Missouri, Novelty MO. His research is focused on spatial/temporal modeling of nutrient dynamics in the plant, soil, water, and gaseous phases ranging from plot scale to watershed scale. He worked on several prescription models for developing landscape position-based research at farm-scale in Missouri and Illinois. His research also involves understanding the effects of cover crops, tillage, and topography on biomass production, soil and water quality in row crop production systems. At GRC, University of Missouri, he is working on several projects focusing on the effects of drainage technologies and nutrient management on sustainable crop production that reduced environmental effects at the farm scale. His research impacts can be evaluated based on recommendations made to growers on best management practices for optimizing yield and reducing nutrient losses. Throughout his career, he has authored or co-authored over fifty peer-reviewed journal articles and generated over six million dollars in grant funding for his research program.
Nathan Stoltzfus is a Professional Engineer working at Ohio State University Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering Department as a research engineer. After graduating from the same department in 2014, he worked in stream restoration design and ecological engineering & consulting before returning to OSU to work in his current role.
Dr. John McMaine is an assistant professor and water management engineer extension state specialist in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering department at South Dakota State University. He received his PhD in Biosystems Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He received BS and MS degrees in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering from the University of Kentucky. His research and outreach interests center around agricultural and urban water management and water quality. In his current role, he researches water management technologies that are environmentally and economically sustainable and provides guidance for stakeholders to implement practices that improve water management and water quality.
Session 8
Tom Christensen,Project Manager, Ecosystem Services Exchange, LLC, has over 42 years of professional experience in both the public and private sectors and at field, state, regional, and national levels in support of collaborative efforts to assist farmers, ranchers, and forest stewards with their conservation needs through voluntary, science-based approaches. He has worked for three different agencies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), including 37 years with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Within USDA, Tom held 16 different positions in nine separate locations. He was the NRCS State Conservationist for Illinois and also held eight different national-level Senior Executive Service positions, including leading information technology, clean water policy and activities, all conservation programs, all operational and business functions, and supervising State Conservationists in the U.S. Central Region as Regional Conservationist. Tom is experienced in all formulation, delivery, and leadership activities needed to support voluntary site-specific conservation and watershed-scale planning and implementation, science and technology development and transfer, technical quality assurance and optimization, and information technology integration to support business, programmatic, and technical needs. Tom was a recipient of a Presidential Meritorious Rank Award for Senior Executives in 2009. He also has received 5 USDA Honor Awards, a USDA FPAC Chief Operating Officer Award, a USDA Under Secretary Award for Outstanding Service, and a USDA Assistant Secretary for Administration Award for Business Leadership. During the last 20 years of his career with USDA in Washington, D.C., Tom worked in 8 different Senior Executive Service (SES) positions and received the highest annual performance rating for a Senior Executive in 19 of those 20 years. As project manager for Ecosystem Services Exchange (ESE), Tom is now engaged with the development, implementation, and outcome assessment of innovative projects designed to improve farmers’ management of drainage water for improved environmental, crop production, and risk reduction benefits through a conservation systems approach. Tom also serves as the Chief Executive Officer for SWRT Solutions, Inc., a new company focused on working with farmers to mechanically install polymer membranes in sandy soil profiles using an innovative engineering design that is based on years of scientific research and on-farm demonstrated results throughout the world. These membranes are an inert, environmentally friendly optimizer of water, nutrients, and oxygen in the soil that function without energy inputs, disturbance of normal farming operations, or maintenance and repair requirements. Tom has a B.S. in Forest Management from Rutgers University and an M.S. in Renewable Natural Resources Conservation from the University of Connecticut. He also was a graduate student at Duke University at two different times, first in Forest Meteorology and later in Public Policy through a USDA competitive program. He also is the author of multiple publications, including recently The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Role in America’s Private Lands Conservation Movement: Chronology of Key Developments from 1933 Through 2019, released in January 2020; “Seizing the Opportunity: Realizing the Full Benefits of Drainage Water Management” in Soil and Water Conservation, A Celebration of 75 Years published by the Soil and Water Conservation Society in December 2020; and, America’s Conservation Delivery System: Locally Led, State Centered, and Nationally Consistent presented and released at the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the National Association of Conservation Districts in July 2021.
Tim Rosen manages ShoreRivers’ agricultural department, partnering with academic, state, and federal agencies to advance research on agricultural best management practices, managing restoration projects, completing watershed assessments, and working with farmers and landowners to reduce land based pollution. Tim grew up outside of Baltimore on one of the Chesapeake Bay’s most polluted tributaries. He majored in biology and minored in environmental studies at Mount St. Mary’s University and completed a master’s degree in watershed hydrology at Louisiana State University. Following graduate school he entered into Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Conservation Corps with Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy (a ShoreRivers legacy organization).
Andrew Craig, PhD, PE has been with the ESE team since May, 2020. He received bachelors and Master’s Degrees from the University of Iowa (UI) in 2003 and 2005 in Civil Engineering – Hydraulics. He spent 13 years working at IIHR – Hydroscience & Engineering at UI on a wide variety of water resources subjects ranging from subsurface imagery, hydrographic survey, river sedimentation, fish passage, vortex and baffle drop shafts for combined sewer overflows, and many more. In 2017, he left IIHR to pursue a doctoral degree in agricultural engineering/land and water resources at Iowa State University (ISU). He received his PhD from ISU in June, 2021. Andrew now splits his time as Director of the Buss Hydrology Lab in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at ISU and as the Conservation Engineering Lead at ESE. At ESE, Andrew is mainly involved in conservation drainage practice design (saturated buffer, bioreactor, drainage water management), development of automated water level and flow controls for these systems, and working to increase producer adoption of conservation drainage.
Isaac Ferrie is an Agronomist and the Research Director at Crop-Tech Consulting Inc. (CTC) in Heyworth Illinois. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Geography, specializing in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He also holds a Master of Professional Studies in Geographic Information Technology (GIT) from Northeastern University. Isaac is a CCA with the 4R Nutrient Management Specialty certification through the American Society of Agronomy. CTC is an independent crop consulting company that consults its growers on a wide range of agronomic areas including but not limited to VRT population and fertility, disease management, tillage systems, crop rotations and water management. At CTC, Isaac has been working “hands on” since 2003 using his GIS background to help analyze the results from the hundreds of test plots that CTC has a hand in each year being able to integrate more precision farming tools and nutrient management techniques into CTC’s “Systems Approach to Farming” to help improve their growers’ bottom line.
Charlie Schafer began his career in the agricultural drainage industry in 1976, when he and two brothers founded Agri Drain Corp. and began installing drainage tubing for Iowa farmers. Soon after, they started manufacturing products for their own projects and to sell to other contractors. In 1984, construction activities were discontinued in order to focus full-time on product development, manufacturing, and distribution. Charlie continues as President and owner of Agri Drain Corp., President of the Ag Drainage Management Coalition (ADMC), and is the Founder of Ecosystem Services Exchange (ESE). Charlie has held various offices as a Contractor and Associate Member of the Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA), served on the Executive Board of the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) and National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD). Charlie currently serves on the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance Business Advisory Council, Transforming Drainage Advisory Committee, the Iowa League of Cities Water Quality Trading Advisory Committee, the National Association of Land Improvement Contractors Technical Service Provider Working Group, the NRCS State Technical Committee, along with various nonprofit, governmental, and academic advisory committees and working groups in support of the conservation and water management industry.