Agriculture

Alan Attie

Alan Attie’s research focuses on the genetics of diabetes and disorders affecting cholesterol metabolism. His lab takes advantage of natural variation in mouse strains to look for genes that affect these disease processes. He believes …

Allyson Bennett

Allyson Bennett’s research centers on how the interplay between early environments, experiences, and genes contribute to individual variation in psychological and physical health across the lifespan. A longitudinal and multidisciplinary research approach with nonhuman primates …

Jennifer Blazek

Previously, Jennifer worked in UW-Extension as the Dane County Dairy & Livestock Educator and before that in Polk County as the Agriculture Agent. In Extension, Jennifer developed her expertise in farm human resource management, where …

Bradley Bolling

Dr. Bolling’s research focuses on the health and sustainability of foods. His group is working to understand the composition and health benefits of underutilized fruits, vegetables, nuts and dairy products. Their current research focusses on …

Adam Borger

Adam Borger has worked in the food industry for 14 years as a microbiologist before joining the UW-Madison Food Research Institute. His area of expertise is food microbiology and food safety, focusing on both consumers …

Yury Bukhman

Bioinformatician with >20 years of research experience in academia and the biotech industry. Interested in genomes, evolution, and the analysis and integration of high-throughput biological data. Earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from The Johns Hopkins …

Victor Cabrera

Dr. Cabrera combines applied research, interdisciplinary approaches, and participatory methods to deliver practical, data-driven, user-friendly, and scientific decision support tools for dairy farm management. These scientific tools are improving dairy farm profitability, environmental stewardship, and …

Steve Carpenter

Dr. Carpenter has worked on water quality and fisheries problems of Wisconsin’s lakes since 1974. He was a co-founder of the Resilience Alliance for studies of social-ecological change. He served as a co-chair of the …

Peter Carstensen

Peter C. Carstensen is the Fred W & Vi Miller Chair in Law Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He has a BA from the University of Wisconsin. He earned his LLB at …

Min Chen

Dr. Min Chen is an assistant professor of the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a faculty member affiliated with the UW Data Science Institute, the Nelson …

Jerry Clark

Jerry Clark has been the Crops and Soils Agent for the Division of Extension in Chippewa County since 1998. He provides educational programming and applied research in agronomy and soils focusing on alternative crops, forages, …

Chuck Czuprynski

Chuck Czuprynski, is Professor and Past Chair of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, and Past Director of the Food Research Institute. His research focuses on the pathogenesis of bacterial pathogens, with …

Steven Deller

Steven Deller is Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics at UW–Madison and a Community Economic Development Specialist with the UW-Extension. Professor Deller’s long-term research interest includes modeling community and small regional economies in order to …

Shelby Ellison

Dr. Shelby Ellison is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She received a B.S. in Genetics at UW-Madison, a Ph.D. in Genetics at …

Jennifer Gaddis

Jennifer Gaddis is an associate professor of Civil Society and Community Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of The Labor of Lunch: Why We Need Real Food and Real Jobs in American …

Irwin Goldman

Irwin Goldman’s research focuses on three main fields of study: horticulture and human health, vegetable crop genetics, and vegetable breeding. Irwin is unavailable for talks until 2025.

Laura Hernandez

My work focuses on maternal physiology. My research is focused on mammary gland development and the impacts on the mom. Further, I study the use of antidepressants on maternal and offspring health. I make use …

Michaela Hoffelmeyer

In 2023, I joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as part of the Dairy Innovation Hub-funded faculty. As part of this position, I will be conducting dairy-related research on topics such as robotics, labor, market concentration, …

Leslie Holland

Leslie Holland is an Assistant Professor & Extension Specialist in the department of Plant Pathology at UW-Madison. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Plant Pathology at UC Davis and Washington State University, respectively. The …

Jingyi Huang

I am an associate professor from the Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, UW-Madison. My research, education, and outreach programs focus on integrating sensing technologies and models, including artificial intelligence, to improve the understanding of …

Brian Hudelson

Brian Hudelson is affectionately known as “Dr. Death” because of his love of plant diseases. Brian received his BS in Botany, Bacteriology and Molecular Biology, MS in Biometry and PhD in Plant Pathology from the …

Randy Jackson

Randy Jackson and his grassland ecology group study how carbon and nutrients flow into, within, and out of grassland ecosystems. Randy grew up in southern California, played baseball and earned a BS in Environmental Science …

Anupreksha Jain

Anupreksha is an entomology graduate student at UW-Madison, where she works with Dr. James Crall on global change and pollination ecology in agroecosystems. Her research uses computer vision based tools to investigate the mechanistic effects …

Lisa Johnson

Lisa has a bachelor’s degree in Horticulture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree in Life Sciences Communication. Prior to that, she worked in the horticulture industry for eight years. She has been …

Allison Jonjak

Allison grew up on a cranberry marsh founded by her grandfather in 1939. Studying ag engineering and soil chemistry, she worked with row crop farmers until the University of Wisconsin created a Cranberry Outreach Specialist position. This …

Harkirat Kaur

I am Harkirat Kaur, and I recently began my role as an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Corn Production Systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a corn agronomist, I aim to create a …

Brian Kirkpatrick

My long-running interests have been genetics broadly, and the genetic basis for variation in reproduction and health in cattle specifically. Particular areas of interest include genetics of twin birth and susceptibility to the pathogen responsible …

Kristin Krokowski

Kristin has been working in the areas of small scale vegetable production on diversified farms, direct marketing, and produce safety for more than 20 years. She also serves as the Director of the Wisconsin Farmers …

Reba Luiken

Dr. Reba Luiken is an architect of encounters with plants in her role as Executive Director of Allen Centennial Garden. She has a Ph.D. in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, a B.S. in …

Kevin Masarik

Kevin Masarik is a groundwater education specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He has assisted tens of thousands of well owners through locally organized well water …

Alfonso Morales

Alfonso Morales, PhD (Northwestern), is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning (College of Letters and Sciences) at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is originally from rural New Mexico with roots in family farming …

Freya Mowat

Freya Mowat grew up in the UK and attended veterinary school in Bristol and completed her Ph.D in Molecular Genetics at UCL in London. She trained as a veterinary ophthalmologist at Michigan State University in …

Julia Nepper

Dr. Nepper earned her Bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina–Wilmington, where she majored in biology and chemistry. She completed her PhD in Biophysics in 2017 at UW–Madison. She worked with Prof. Doug Weibel, …

Todd Newman

Todd P. Newman is an assistant professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an affiliate of the Robert F. and Jean E. Holtz Center for Science & Technology …

Chuck Nicholson

I am an agricultural economist who contributes core economic perspectives on food system issues relevant to society, often working closely with other disciplines and using integrative systems approaches. My research program focuses on the economics …

Alex O’Brien

As CDR’s Dairy Safety & Quality Coordinator, Alex O’Brien assists dairy plants with food safety plans, quality issues, and performs third party audits. Alex has worked in the food industry for the past 10 years, …

Adela Oliva Chavez

Dr. Adela Oliva Chavez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, previously at Texas A&M University. She is interested in the molecular mechanisms behind tick-borne pathogen transmission …

Johanna Oosterwyk

Johanna Oosterwyk is the manager of the DC Smith Instructional Greenhouse at UW Madison. She teaches classes in greenhouse management and plant care for the UW Department of Horticulture.

Daniel Phaneuf

Prof. Phaneuf is the Henry C. Taylor Professor of Applied Economics at UW-Madison. His teaching and research are in the area of environmental economics, with emphasis on measuring the economic benefits of improved environmental outcomes. …

Warren Porter

Warren Porter has a deep Wisconsin heritage, since he was born in Madison two blocks from where he works. His parents came from Green Bay in the north and from a farm that had land bought …

Keith Poulsen

Keith Poulsen is a practicing large animal veterinarian at the Morrie Waud Large Animal Hospital at the School of Veterinary Medicine and is the Section Head of Client Services at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. …

Volker Radeloff

Douglas Reinemann

Douglas Reinemann is proud to call Sheboygan his hometown and to have found a place at the University of Wisconsin, where the boundaries of the University are the boundaries of the state. His work as …

Faith Reyes

Faith Reyes is a Dairy Outreach Specialist in the Division of Extension at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She completed B.S. in Animal Science at UW-River Falls and her M.S. at Colorado State University …

Eric Sandgren

Eric Sandgren was born and raised in Janesville, Wisconsin, and then spent eight very enjoyable years as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. After receiving Veterinary and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania …

Christine Seroogy

Christine Seroogy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics. Christine grew up in Green Bay and received a BS in Microbiology from UW–Madison. She completed her medical education at the University of Minnesota, …

John Shutske

Currently Not accepting Talk Requests John Shutske is a professor and Cooperative Extension Specialist at the University of Wisconsin – Madison in Biological Systems Engineering. Professor Shutske has 32 years of experience working as a …

Claudia Solis-Lemus

Claudia Solis-Lemus grew up in Mexico City, where she completed her undergraduate work at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico in Actuarial Sciences and Applied Mathematics. Claudia received her Ph.D. in Statistics at the University …

Dean Sommer

Dean has worked at the Center for Dairy Research for the last 19 years, serving as a technical resource to Wisconsin cheese manufacturers and their customers. Prior to that Dean worked for 18 years at …

Edgar Spalding

Edgar Spalding grew up in rural Nova Scotia and became deeply interested in nature, and a life-long birder (including photography). But, in college he became interested less in nature and more in the physical and …

Glen Stanosz

Glen prefers in-person talks. Glen Stanosz is a Wisconsin native and Professor of Tree and Forest Health at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research group studies the biology and management of tree diseases caused by …

Andrew Stevens

Andrew Stevens is an applied economist with research interests focused largely on the United States’ agricultural and food sectors with specific applications ranging throughout the agri-food supply chain “from field to fork.” By better understanding …

David Garison Stevens

David is the curator of the living collection of woody plants at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum.. He just the third curator since the collections inception in 1935, overseeing the largest and most diverse array …

Cathy Techtmann

Cathy is a Professor of Community Resource Development and an Environmental Outreach State Specialist for the University of Wisconsin-Extension. She specializes in environmental interpretation, communication, and leadership development that make environmental issues “come alive” for …