Team

Kurtis Pilkington, M.Sc Student (2021-)

Co-supervised with Dr. David Hooker

B.Sc.Agr, University of Guelph (2020)

Thesis topic: Effect of plant growth regulators on winter wheat yield, lodging and biomechanics

Jongwon Kang, Ph.D Student (2022-)

M.Sc, Plant Breeding, Chungbuk National University, South Korea (2021). Advisor: Dr. Yoon-Sup So.

Jongwon’s Ph.D research is focused on corn physiology and agronomy. His research includes: using the DNDC biogeochemical model to analyze the effect of nitrogen application timing on N2O emissions, improving corn phenology predictions by incorporating solar radiation into traditional GDD models, analyzing weather/soil/crop datasets to understand what conditions are conducive to late nitrogen applications in corn.

Gavin Brady, M.Sc Student (2022-)

Co-supervised with Dr. John Lauzon

B.Sc.Agr, University of Guelph (2022)

My research currently focuses on gaining better understanding of the effects of drought upon corn nitrogen uptake and metabolism. Furthermore, the impacts of differing N sources, timings, application methods, and rates are also being analyzed. The aim of this research is to contribute towards an updated best nitrogen management plan.

Lance Javier, MSc Student (2023- present)

I graduated from Western University with a BSc in Integrated Sciences with a specialization in Biology. For my undergraduate honors thesis project, I investigated how soil contaminated with microplastics and copper affected the growth of soybeans. As a new MSc candidate in Dr. Nasielski’s lab, I have not yet chosen a MSc project. However, I would like to research the effects of different crop management strategies on yield while promoting environmental stewardship and soil health. I aspire to conduct good agronomic research that helps farmers, and to have an educational role in sharing this information with the public.

Seth Ristma, M.Sc student (2022-present)

Co-supervised with Dr. David Hooker

I’m currently working on a planting date project that looks at 12 and 10 different hybrids/varieties of corn and soybean planted in April, May, and June to analyze the interaction between planting date and crop maturity, along with soybean seeding rate. The goal is to create
profitable, data-backed Ontario-specific recommendations for farmers to use in order to improve early/late planting decisions, along with investigating the plant-to-plant variability in corn across
different maturity selection and planting date