My background is in film/media studies and more recently, environmental horticulture in the Southern California area.  My work experiences in the environmental horticulture field were in several complimentary capacities. I taught ecological landscape design and labs for horticulture classes at Santa Barbara City College. Managed a three-acre Lifescape Garden where students received hands-on training. Additionally, I ran my own small business working with clients on irrigation, native plant care, landscape design, maintenance, plant propagation, arboriculture, and property management. Currently at UC Davis, my focus is on comparing the accuracy of local, CIMIS, and PRISM temperature data sources to estimate growth stages for water-seeded rice. Using this data I will be creating degree day models that farmers can effectively use in tracking or estimating the growth of their different rice varieties in counties throughout the Sacramento Valley area.

We want to determine the feasibility of growing rice in "no-till"soils with respect to yields, N requirements and weed pressure. Overall, the key dependent variables that will assess affecting grain yield are weed control and nitrogen management. Most rice growers in California till both in the fall and the spring to incorporate rice straw, and prepare the seedbed, respectively. Harvesting equipment can leave deep tracks in the field that prevent rice establishment and promote weed problems, so "no-till" rice systems are often unsuccessful. While fall tillage is necessary to level the field and incorporate straw, minimum-till rice systems with no spring tillage are an option and have been evaluated in the southern United States and Asia. No-till systems have been shown to reduce yields by as much as 5.1%, so our nitrogen trials will help us determine the amount of N fertilizer required to attain the same yields as tilled rice. Foregoing spring tillage can have many benefits such as reduce fuel energy consumption and cost, ability to plant earlier, better control of herbicide-resistant weeds, and minimizing soil disturbance. Having been a member of the University of Maryland's Soil Quality Laboratory studying the effects of early-planted cover crops and nitrogen uptake, as well as agricultural technician at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center of the USDA, I am excited to work in a completely new crop system to help develop more sustainable and efficient farming techniques.

The focus of my current research is to explore alternative irrigation management strategies as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from rice soils without negatively impacting yields

I am passionate about fieldwork and research related to plant nutrition, soil fertility, GHG emissions, water use, and sustainable agriculture. My Ph.D. project focused on optimizing planting date and the application of organic and mineral fertilizers to enhance quinoa production in Morocco. My interest in GHG emissions and sustainable agriculture deepened during my time as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at UC Davis, where I evaluated the sustainability of quinoa cultivation using the life cycle assessment approach. Currently, my research focuses on exploring no-till rice systems in California, and specifically evaluating their potential to conserve water and reduce GHG emissions.

I am broadly interested in C:N dynamics and management practices that promote long term soil health for sustained agronomic productivity. My research focuses on nitrogen availability in relationship to rice field management, specifically fallow and continuous flooding. Continuous flooding with winter straw decomposition can cause an accumulation of lignin-derived recalcitrant phenols that bind to mineral nitrogen in the humic faction, making applied nitrogen less available for crop uptake and causing yield losses. The research attempts to understand if increased nitrogen application are needed for continuous flooding to obtain optimal yields and quantify the degree of soil N immobilization caused by soil phenols. Additionally, I am also quantifying greenhouse gas emissions for the two management practices specific to this rice growing region of Sacramento Valley.