Staff

Administrative Staff

Name Position/title Email Phone
Kelsey Bogdanovich Administrative Director [email protected]
Dave La Fave Finance Professional 3 [email protected] 612-624-3795
Lauren Matushin Student Services Coordinator [email protected] 612-624-8747
Alicia McCann Communications & Project Management [email protected]
Anna Sidorenko Executive Accounts Specialist [email protected]

Academic Staff

Name Position/title Areas of Interest Email
Michael Barnes Postdoctoral Associate

sustainable transitions, sustainable turf, urban nature and health, greenspace design

 [email protected]
David Bedford Senior Research Fellow

Apple Breeding; Cultivar Development and Commercialization

 [email protected]
Gary Deters Turf Research Field Facility Manager

Bentgrass, low input turf, golf courses

 [email protected]
Rajmund Eperjesi Researcher 5

tissue culture, plant physiology, SNP genotyping

 [email protected]
Adria Fernandez Researcher

Cover crops; soil microbial communities; legume crops

 [email protected]
Katrina Freund Saxhaug Postdoctoral Associate

Plant metabolomics, plant biochemistry, plant-insect interactions

 [email protected]
Megan Harder Researcher 1

Sustainable Agriculture, Crop Diversity, Nutrient Cycling

 [email protected]
Andrew Hollman Researcher 6

Fine Fescue, No-Mow, Breeding, winter survival

 [email protected]
Drew Horton Enology Specialist - Grape Breeding & Enology Project

Winemaking, Experimental Winemaking, Hybrid Grapes

 [email protected]
Laura Irish Teaching Specialist

propagation; education; club advising

 [email protected]
Mitch Johnson Researcher [email protected]
Sarah Kostick Postdoctoral Associate

Apple Breeding; DNA-informed Breeding; genomewide prediction

 [email protected]
John Larsen Researcher 1

Tissue Culture, Potato Breeding, and Cultivar Development

 [email protected]
Diana Carolina Lopez Arias Postdoctoral Associate

Trait characterization, QTL mapping, RNAseq, Phytopathology

 [email protected]
Xiaoxi Meng Post-Doc

Potato genomics; Diversity; Evolution

 [email protected]
Baylee Miller Researcher 2

quantitative trait locus mapping, haplotype analysis, marker-assisted selection

 [email protected]
Kristine Moncada Researcher 5

Low-input fine fescues; Roadside turfgrasses; Lawn water conservation; Bee Lawns

 [email protected]
Renata P Pincelli Souza Researcher 6

plant physiology, abiotic stress, plant growth regulators

 [email protected]
Calvin Peters Researcher

Data Science, Machine Learning / AI, Mass Spectrometry

 [email protected]
Ryan Schwab Researcher 3

low-input, wetting agents, irrigation, golf

 [email protected]
Florence Sessoms Researcher

Nutrient and water conservation, soil microbes

 [email protected]
Thomas Stefaniak Researcher 5

plant breeding, cultivar development

 [email protected]
Emily Tepe Researcher 5

Sustainable fruit production; Apple rootstocks; Edible landscaping; Online teaching

 [email protected]
John Tillman Researcher

Molecular Breeding, Marker Assisted Breeding, Apple Cider Research

 [email protected]
David Tork Researcher 3

Plant breeding, domestication, floriculture

 [email protected]
Erin Treiber Postdoctoral Associate

post-harvest; phylloxera; plant-insect

 [email protected]
Jillian Turbeville Researcher

Plant genetics, turfgrass phenotyping, and drought studies.

 [email protected]

Extension Staff

Name Position/title Email Phone
Natalie Hoidal Extension Educator - Local Foods & Vegetable Production [email protected]
Annie Klodd Assistant Extension Professor - Fruit and Vegetable Production [email protected] (651) 480-7723
Marissa Schuh Extension Educator - Horticulture Integrated Pest Management [email protected] 612-460-7462
Julie Weisenhorn Associate Extension Professor and Extension Educator, Horticulture [email protected] 9522396608