ANDREA BASCHE
Assistant Professor
Andrea is a cropping systems agronomist with teaching and research responsibilities in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. She received her Ph.D. in 2015 from Iowa State University in agronomy and sustainable agriculture.
CV (September 2020) (PDF file)
Email: abasche2@unl.edu
FERNANDA KRUPEK
Ph.D. Graduate Student
Fernanda Krupek is pursuing her Ph.D. degree at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, researching high-functioning farm ecosystems across different agroecological zones in Nebraska designed to promote soil health. This is a state-wide project that combined long-term on-farm experiments with a continuum of practices on a transition to more complex, ecologically intensified cropping systems. Her project seeks to incorporate aspects of agroecosystem productivity, resilience, and adaptability in corn-soybean cropping systems. Before joining UNL, Fernanda received her Master’s degree from the University of Florida with a major in Horticulture and a Minor at the Agronomy Department. She worked with a project that combined field crop management and post-harvest crop physiology. She also earned a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Sao Paulo – Brazil. Fernanda’s research is a part of the Soil Health Initiative project.
Fernanda was recently awarded first place for a video summary she put together about her research at the 2020 SciComm Conference in the Graduate Student Lightning Video category.
CV (September 2020) (PDF file)
Email: krupek@huskers.unl.edu
Tauana Ferreira de Almeida
Ph. D. Graduate Student
Tauana is an Agronomist and holds a master’s degree in soil science from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil. Now she is pursuing her Ph.D. degree in the Agronomy and Horticulture Department at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. She is leading the team’s participation in the Precision Sustainable Agriculture Coordinated Agriculture Project. She is researching the efficiency of cover crops under different management systems to improve soil health, control weeds and pests and increase cash crop yield.
Email: tauana.almeida.agro@gmail.com or tferreiradealmeida2@huskers.unl.edu
Roberta Bianchin Rebesquini
M.S. Graduate Student
Roberta is originally from south Brazil, and is pursuing her M.S. degree at UNL, researching to evaluate the management and production of Kernza®️, a perennial grain crop developed by The Land Institute. Roberta is part of the KERNZA-CAP project, which seeks to meet the challenges of our future food system while also protecting our water and soil, providing economic opportunities for producers looking to increase the net return and sustainability of their operations. Roberta graduated from Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) – Brazil, with her B.S. in Agronomy.
RESEARCH GROUP ALUMNI
SALVADOR RAMIREZ II
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Salvador Ramirez II completed his Ph.D. with Rhae Drijber in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture in December of 2020 and worked as postdoctoral fellow on our team until the Spring of 2022. He supported numerous research projects and led teaching efforts in Spring 2022 for Resource Efficient Crop Management. He is now working for the USDA ARS unit in Lincoln, NE.
Elizabeth Oys
M.S. Graduate Student
Originally from south central Minnesota, Elizabeth graduated from Iowa State University with her BS in Agronomy and Global Resource Systems and completed her MS in Agronomy on our team in the Spring 2022 semester. She is now working for Gowan Company. Her research on the effects of cover crop systems on weed populations through the Soil Health Initiative project can be found in the UNL Digital Repository. Elizabeth is now a Technical Service Representative with Gowan USA.
NILOVNA CHATTERJEE
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Nilovna received her Ph.D. at the University of Florida in 2018 and led our cover crop modeling efforts as a post doctoral research fellow from 2018-2020, published in Agronomy Journal. She is now working as a scientist with CiBO Technologies. Learn more about Nilovna and her work at https://nilovna.weebly.com.
BRITTANY KIRSCH
M.S. Graduate Student
Brittany is originally from a small town in north-central Iowa. She graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in Agronomy. She completed her M.S. degree in Summer 2020 and is now a soil conservationist with the USDA-NRCS in Sargent Bluff, Iowa. Her thesis, titled “Impact of agricultural land use on stream nitrate, phosphorus and sediment concentrations at the watershed and field scale” can be found in the UNL Digital Repository.
Dania Vieira Branco Ozorio
Research Scholar
Dania Vieira Branco Ozorio was a research scholar at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln during the spring/summer of 2020. She supported the group’s work on the Soil Health Initiative and the development of a decision-support tool for cover crops. Her work culminated in several CropWatch articles. She received her B.S. in Agronomy in 2016 and her M.S. degree in Plant Health with focus on Entomology and Vegetal Virology in 2018, both from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She is looking forward to continuing her studies in the USA.
Gustavo Pesini
International Visiting Scholar
Gustavo Pesini was a research scholar at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln during the spring and summer of 2022. He supported the group’s work on the Precision Sustainable Agriculture (PSA) project. His work is focused on the cover crop management and cropping systems. He is pursuing his undergrad in Agronomy at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, in South of Brazil. He is looking forward to graduate school in Agronomy and starting his masters in the U.S. in 2024.