BARRON-GAFFORD RESEARCH GROUP . BIOGEOGRAPHY & ECOSYSTEM SCIENCE
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 Greg Barron-Gafford, PhD.

 Professor
 Associate Director, UA Community & School Garden Program

 School of Geography & Development;  B2 Earthscience, Biosphere 2  
 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721        

 Email: [email protected]     Phone: 52O.548.0388



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 Nesrine Rouini

 Senior Research Specialist, Research Coordinator,
 and Graduate Student

 School of Geography & Development;  B2 Earthscience, Biosphere 2  
 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721        

 Email:
[email protected]    


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Holly Andrews, Ph.D. 
​Post-Doctoral Research Associate 


Holly Andrews is an ecosystem ecologist and biogeochemistry interested in sustainable agriculture and biosphere-atmosphere interactions. She received dual B.S. degrees in Botany and Environmental Science from Miami University (OH), a M.S. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan with a thesis in plant-herbivore interactions and chemical ecology, and a Ph.D. in Evolution, Ecology, & Organismal Biology from the University of California Riverside with a dissertation in landscape and ecosystem ecology. Holly has conducted postdoctoral research at University of Arizona, previously as a NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow and now as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. Her research in sustainable agriculture has focused on improving climate sustainability of forage cropping systems in the southwestern USA by reducing irrigation-driven greenhouse gas   
                                                                       emissions and by improving fertilizer use efficiency within the plant rhizosphere.  



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Carrie Seay-Fleming, Ph.D
Post-Doctoral Research Associate


Carrie is an environmental sociologist who recently finished her PhD at the University of Colorado. She does research at the intersection of agriculture, human rights, environmental and human health, and rural development.  Carrie is working with Arizona farmers to better understand the impacts of energy transitions taking place in rural Arizona and researching the potential for agrivoltaics to mitigate land-use conflict. 
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 Kai Lepley
 PhD Graduate Research Assistant / PhD Candidate

 
 School of Geography & Development, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721                            

 Kai is exploring our agrivoltaics work using classic plant physiological instruments and novel ground-
 based remote sensing tools for tracking plant phenology and growth.


 Website: https://geography.arizona.edu/people/kai-lepley


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 Tali Neesham-McTiernan
 PhD Graduate Research Assistant / PhD Candidate
 
 School of Geography & Development, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721                            

 Tali is merging physical and social sciences to map areas of suitability for agrivoltaics across East Africa
 and the United States.

 


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 Alyssa Salazar
 Research Technician 
 School of Geography & Development  / Biosphere 2
 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

Alyssa completed a Senior and Honors Thesis on our agrivoltaics research, and now that she has graduated she has taken on leadership roles in our group. Alyssa leads our research on how agrivoltaics impacts the phenology and growing season patterns of different crops across our growing seasons to to determine how this approach might extend the growing seasons of certain crops.
 




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Trevor Lomaomvaya
Graduate Research Assistant

Trevor is pursuing a Master degree in Geography at the University of Arizona and is interested in the potential for agrivoltaics to bolster sustainable agriculture and responsible renewable energy development, particularly in Native Nations. Trevor is working on understanding Hopi community members' perceptions, hesitations, and hopes for this type of land use. 


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Tyler Swanson
Graduate Research Assistant

Tyler is pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Geography at the University of Arizona and is interested in rural economic development. 


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 Isaiah Barnett-Moreno
 Undergraduate Research Assistant and Farm Manager
 Pima Community College


 Isaiah also works with Merchant's Garden, which is making fresh food accessible and affordable with aquaponics.



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 Patrick Murphy
 Research Specialist
 School of Geography & Development  / Biosphere 2
 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

Patrick completed his Masters Research (see below) and now is the research guru for multiple lab groups.  Patrick is a whiz with technology, instrumentation, and mentoring. Patrick helps link and then stream our data from our multiple agrivoltaics and ecohydrology sites, leads calibrations of instruments, and teaches new research assistants about plant ecophysiological measurements best practices. 
 




Research Group Alumni...

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 Caleb Ortega
 Program Coordinator
 UA Community and School Garden Program  / Biosphere 2
 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

As an undergraduate, Caleb worked with our agrivoltaics research, and now that he has graduated he has taken on leadership within our research group and our partner program - the UA Community & School Garden Program. Caleb supports our agrivoltaics research at Biosphere 2 and local schools through site maintenance, planning plantings schemes, getting starts growing ahead of planting, and
                                                             imagining more efficient and creative ways of collecting data.


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John Knowles, Ph.D
Post-doctoral Research Associate

John's
research platform incorporates eddy covariance, isotopic, geographic information
systems (GIS), remote sensing, and modeling techniques to investigate the multi-scale
impacts of climate change and management practices on water and nutrient cycling at
Earth’s surface.

John is now leading his own group of students and teaching as an Assistant Professor at California State University, Chico!


Research Gate Profile: www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Knowles2


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 Mariah Rogers
 Masters Graduate Student

 
 School of Geography & Development, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721                            

Mariah's research revolves around conducting blind taste tests using our agrivoltaics and traditionally grown crops to determine if there are detectable differences in preference. Mariah also serves as
a Teaching Assistant and Field Coordinator for our UA Community and School Garden Program
 Website: https://schoolgardens.arizona.edu/person/mariah-rogers

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Maria Angelino
Graduate Research Assistant

Maria is pursuing a Masters degree in Geography at the University of Arizona and is interested in how an agrivoltaics approach might help us grow the same or even more amounts of food with less water resources.

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Tony Colella
 PhD Graduate Research Assistant


 School of Geography & Development  
 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
                            
 Website:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-colella/

Tony is now an Adjunct Instructor for the University of Arizona, and he is highly sought after because of his creative and engaging style in the classroom.


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 Rebecca Minor, M.Sci.
 Research Specialist, Field and Equipment Guru


 School of Geography & Development;  B2 Earthscience, Biosphere 2 
 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
                            
 Email: [email protected]    


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 Julia Yang
Masters Student

BS:

University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS

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 Leandro Phelps-Garcia
 Undergraduate Research Assistant 
 Research Experiences for Undergraduates Intern
  Soil, Water, & Environmental Science
  University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
  




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 Jovon Jojola (Jojo!)
 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Student
 Home Campus:
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute

 Jojo is a member of the Tribal community at Isleta Pueblo, and she has brought amazing 
 insights into our agrivoltaics research.



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Leland Sutter
PhD Student & Graduate Research Assistant
MA, Physical Geography, University of Arizona, 2018
BS, Environmental Sciences, San Diego State University, 2013


Leland's research lies at the nexus of soil and plant relationships, starting at the organismal scale, then applying those relationships to large landscapes. More specifically, he is interested in semi-arid and arid lands, with a focus on soil-plant water and carbon movement. Interdisciplinary questions are at the heart of Leland's research methods, drawing upon all fields of the physical sciences.

Website: http://www.lelandsutter.com


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 Lucia Lopez
 Undergraduate Research Assistant 
  School of Geography & Development  
 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
  




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Yann Dusza, PhD
Post-doctoral Scholar with the ECOTRON ÎleDeFrance


Yann is an ecosystem ecologist and a plant biologist. I work on the effects of soil-plant interactions on ecosystem multifunctionality.                          
Research Gate Page:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yann_Dusza2


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 Jesse Minor
  PhD Candidate; Graduate Research Assistant


  School of Geography & Development  
  University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
                            
  Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jesse_Minor



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Patrick Murphy
Masters Student & Graduate Research Assistant

BS, Environmental Sciences, San Diego State University, 2013
Patrick's interests are in the physiological responses of Critical Zone vegetation to extreme weather events and changing climatic influences. Specifically, I am looking at the contribution of snowmelt timing to vegetation and NPP around the Bigelow Site in the Santa Catalina Mountains.


School of Geography & Development, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721   
Website: http://u.arizona.edu/~murphyp/index.html



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Sean Hendryx
Masters Graduate Research Assistant

BS, Environmental Science (Energy in Society & the Environment), Western Washington Univ.
Sean is studying the interactions between land cover, climate, and water. He is currently focused on the statistical and spatial analysis of factors from remote sensing, in situ measurements, and mathematical models to understand carbon and water fluxes in the critical zone.

School of Natural Resources & the Environment; University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ   Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-hendryx-43894056



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 Sarah Wolsiffer

 Undergraduate Research Assistant
  School of Natural Resources & Environment, Graduating May 2018

 Sarah is studying Wildlife Conservation and Management with minors in Marine 
 Science and Spanish. She has been learning about how to measure photosynthesis in
 mesquite and grasses, and she has proven to be a huge help in our research already!




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Enrique Pérez Sánchez-Cañete, PhD
Marie Curie Fellow; Post-doctoral Scholar; Visiting Scientist from the University of Granada in Spain

  School of Geography & Development;  B2 Earthscience, Biosphere 2 
  University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
                            
  Google Scholar Page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oOEp7nwAAAAJ&hl=en



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Sabrina Juarez, PhD
Post-doctoral Scientist
Lead Research Specialist - Ecotron Experiment

Centre for Research in Experimental and Predictive Ecology (CEREEP)
Ecotron Ile-de-France



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Michelle Coe
Graduate Student - Completed Fall 2015 - supported by a NASA Space Grant Graduate Fellow
Thesis Title: School Gardens As Science: Using Arizona Children's Environmental Attitudes to Evaluate Program Effectiveness


Websites:
http://geography.arizona.edu/user/michelle-coe or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleacoe



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 Katie Kinney

 STAR (STem Teachers and Researchers) fellow for the 2016 summer 
  through the CalPoly program



University of Montana graduate going into teaching Middle School.
Katie is helping develop experiential education opportunities around our Solar Ecosystem Services installation at Biosphere 2. She is also creating lesson plans and tools for experiential classroom learning around these topics for classes that are too far to help us with this work at Biosphere 2.

More about the STAR program: http://www.starteacherresearcher.org/index.html#whatis



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Elizabeth Parra

Research Experiences for Undergraduates, Visiting Scientist


University of Texas, El Paso
El Paso, TX



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Zev Braun

Research Experiences for Undergraduates, Visiting Scientist


Grinnell College
Grinnell, IA


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Cynthia Wright

Research Experiences for Undergraduates, Visiting Scientist


Now in Graduate School at Texas A&M University
College Station, TX



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Grace John

Research Experiences for Undergraduates, Visiting Scientist

(Co-advised with Dr. Shirley Papuga)

University of Dayton; Now in Graduate School at UCLA!



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Kelly Sykora

Research Experiences for Undergraduates, Visiting Scientist


University of Wisconsin



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Pin Pravalprukskul

Research Experiences for Undergraduates, Visiting Scientist
(Co-advised with Dr. Mitch Pavao-Zuckerman)


Wellesley College



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Evan Sommer

The one and only!




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Maggie Heard

Research Technician, Retired ;)

B2 Earthscience, Biosphere 2  
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721     





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  • Home
  • Research
    • Agrivoltaics
    • Publications
    • Climate Smart Ag
    • Photovoltaic Heat Island Effect
    • Dryland ecohydrology
    • Montane Ecosystem & the Critical Zone
    • Biosphere 2 Research
  • Teaching
    • Biogeography!
    • Our Diverse Biosphere!
    • Plants Under Stress
  • News!
  • People
  • Join us!