DR. John Mckay
John is a Professor of Plant Evolutionary Genetics at Colorado State University. He is the Principle Investigator on the ARPA-E ROOTS grant that funds SUBTERRA and leads the discovery of enhanced root traits for carbon sequestration and drought tolerance in maize. His research integrates the approaches of ecology, physiology, genetics, and genomics in an effort to understand the processes and mechanisms which have led to the evolution of phenotypes involved in the range limits of natural plant populations and cultivated species. This extends from basic research on the genetics of adaptation and other complex traits to applications in crop genetics in agricultural environments.
DR. Jack Mullen
Jack is a Research Scientist in the Department of oil and Crop Sciences. He studies the genetics of environmental responses and root development in natural populations and cultivated species. On the SUBTERRA project, he investigates the genetic basis of drought tolerance and carbon sequestration in maize. He also participates in root phenotyping efforts, leading our root imaging and sampling.
CZERO
From left to right, Bryce Whitehill, Kyle Palmiscno, Chris Turner, Guy Babbitt, and Caleb Alvarado are our engineering team at Czero, Inc. Czero is an engineering services company specializing in accelerating new technology development in automotive, cleantech, oil &gas, and military/aerospace markets. They are able to take rough R&D concepts from customers and create robust designs and prototypes. The team at Czero is engineering a mechanized root puller and soil corer to mount on a high clearance custom tractor. These innovations will allow for rapid collection of the phenotypes that will be used in mapping complex traits of interest.
dr. francesca cotrufo
Francesca is a Professor and Associate Head in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and Senior Scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Lab at CSU. She is a soil ecologist and biogeochemist, internationally recognized as an authority in the field of litter decomposition and soil organic matter dynamics, and in the use of isotopes in these studies. Her main research interest is in understanding the mechanisms of formation and persistence of soil organic matter, and its response to environmental changes. She also pursues applied research to propose soil management practices that increase soil health and mitigate climate change.
dr. keith paustian
Keith is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and Senior Research Scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at CSU. A major focus of his work involves modeling, field measurement and development of assessment tools for soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions from soils. He also serves as project director for the Bioenergy Alliance Network of the Rockies, a consortium of universities, industry and government, researching the potential for sustainable bioenergy production from beetle-kill trees and forest residues. He has an extensive background of professional work around climate change. Keith leads the soil carbon modeling efforts on the SUBTERRA project.
dr. christopher Topp
Christopher Topp is an Assistant Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, a non-profit plant science research institute in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. Chris earned his PhD in Plant Biology from the University of Georgia in 2009 and did his postdoctoral work in the lab of Philip Benfey at Duke University. He is an elected member of the North American Plant Phenotyping Network Executive Committee, and the outgoing Chair of Phenome, a new international meeting for plant phenotyping. The Topp Lab takes an integrated phenomics approach to uncovering the molecular basis of root traits in multiple crop species. They are developing root imaging technologies and analytics: in particular X-ray CT, positron emission tomography, and statistical and deep learning methods. By integrating these efforts with natural variation and genomics, they focus on the development of new crop varieties with root systems tailored to the local environment that enhance drought tolerance, efficient nutrient uptake, and soil health. The Topp Lab is a partner in SUBTERRA's root imaging efforts.
DR. Yao Zhang
Yao is a research scientist in Natural Resource Ecology Lab at Colorado State University. His interests include modeling of crop growth, water use, soil physics, soil organic matter and nutrient dynamics. His research includes climate change and management change impact on agricultural lands at different scales. He is working to develop a dynamic model to predict the fate soil carbon and nitrogen at depth and in multiple ecosystem types.
MICHELLE hADDIX
Michelle is a Research Associate at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University. She got her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2000 and her master’s degree in Ecology at Colorado State University in 2007. She has worked on a variety of experiments studying soil organic matter dynamics and characterization with a focus on decomposition, temperature, and land use change. For the ROOTS project she is studying soil organic matter stabilization at depth utilizing 13C and 15N isotopically labeled corn roots.
Kirsten hein
Kirsten is pursuing her Ph.D. in Ecology under the advisement of Dr. John McKay at Colorado State University. She received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her research interests are in improving crop resilience in the face of climate change by studying the molecular mechanisms that control drought tolerance traits. Her contribution to the SUBTERRA project has been developing its webpage to illustrate the project’s goals and tasks to the public.