About

The overarching goal of my program is to create sustainable, attractive, and functional urban and suburban landscapes.  With appointments in extension (70%), teaching (20%), and research (10%) my duties include developing science-based solutions to current problems affecting landscape managers in Wisconsin and beyond and disseminating those solutions to landscape managers through innovative means.

The goal of my research program is to lower the non-target impacts of pest management in turfgrass and urban landscapes. As an extension specialist with a relatively small research appointment, my program conducts high quality and client-relevant research that I can disseminate through my extension program. To accomplish this I have focused my research on three areas; precision disease management using predictive models, pesticide fate and impact on turfgrass landscapes, and the turfgrass microbiome. Research in each area includes both fundamental and applied objectives to gain a broad biological understanding of the system with the intent of developing pest management recommendations for the turfgrass industry that are both effective and reduce non-target impacts.

I also oversee the Turfgrass Diagnostic Lab (tdl.wisc.edu) and the Turfgrass Fungicide Testing Program (tdl.wisc.edu/research) at the University of Wisconsin. The Turfgrass Diagnostic Lab receives over 200 samples annually from golf courses, home lawns, sod farms, and athletic fields from around the country.  The UW Turfgrass Fungicide Testing Program is one of the largest of its kind in the country and tests approximately 200 fungicide treatments annually for efficacy against both winter and summer turfgrass diseases.

Previous Experience

2005-2013:  University of Wisconsin Turfgrass Diagnostic Lab Manager

Education