CEFS Graduate Student Fellowships
The goal of the CEFS Fellows program is to support through networking and professional development our future food and agriculture systems leaders.
The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) NC State University Graduate Fellows Program was developed to provide financial support, recognition, networking, and professional development for future leaders, researchers, and practitioners in sustainable agriculture and local food systems while they pursue academic research to further their field of study.
CEFS is one of the nation’s most important centers for research, extension, and education in sustainable agriculture and community-based food systems. It is recognized as a national and international leader in the local foods movement and is celebrated for its work in building consensus around policies, programs, and actions that facilitate a vibrant local food economy.
2024 Cohort – NC State
Ashlee George | Doctorate | Crop Science | NC State University
Ashlee is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at North Carolina State University, where she is co-advised by Dr. Suchoff of the Alternative Crops lab, and Dr. Woodley of the Sustainable and Organic Soil Fertility lab. Ashlee’s work is focused on emerging production concerns for fiber hemp – nitrogen fertility, weed suppression, and retting time. With growing industry interest in fiber hemp, hemp acreage in North Carolina is expected to increase in the coming years. Much of this acreage is predicted to be on land that was previously used for tobacco production along the coastal plain, where many other commodity crops are not performing well. Therefore, establishing production recommendations that maximize fiber yield and quality while maintaining an emphasis on sustainable practices and profitability is crucial. Her nitrogen fertility and weed suppression studies utilize cover crops as an alternative to synthetic fertilizers and herbicides, respectively. By replacing synthetic inputs with cover crops, growers will be able to build soil health while reducing their input costs. The potential impacts of fiber hemp production on soil health continues into her retting study, where localized climate data and sensors will be used in conjunction with fiber analyses to create a machine learning model to predict retting for fiber quality and processability, while understanding the recycling of nutrients from the decomposing stem back into the soil.
Ashlee is originally from Wilmington, North Carolina. She received her B.S. in Environmental Science from North Carolina State University and her M.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Systems from North Carolina A&T State University. When Ashlee is not in the field or the lab, she enjoys spending time in nature or at home with her cat (Spam).
Benjamin Rajo | Doctorate | Animal Science | NC State University
Benjamin is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Animal Science at NC State University, where he conducts research under the advisory of Dr. Daniel Poole. Originally from Honduras, Benjamin earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural sciences from Zamorano Panamerican Agricultural University in 2012. After graduating, he spent eight years as a farm operations manager in northern Honduras, where he implemented a Silvopasture model for raising crossbred beef cattle. In 2021, Benjamin joined the Poole lab at NC State to pursue his graduate studies. He completed his master’s degree in animal science in 2023 and is now entering the second year of his doctoral program. His research focuses on investigating the effects of environmental and nutritional variables on physiological and performance parameters of beef cattle, with the objective of identifying strategies to improve productivity, efficiency, and profitability of beef operations.
DoYeong Hur | Doctorate | Soil Science | NC State University
DoYeong is a Ph.D. student in Soil Science at North Carolina State University, in the Sustainable and Organic Soil Fertility Lab led by Dr. Alex Woodley. His research is primarily focused on the evaluation of enhanced efficiency fertilizers for reducing nitrous oxide emissions and ammonia volatilization in corn systems. The objective of his research is to provide production level regional emission factors, economic assessments, and reduction potential of environmental externalities of management choices that include full and reduced nitrogen rates with the use of enhanced efficiency fertilizers. DoYeong’s research aims to investigate the possibilities of reducing N losses in the form of nitrous oxide and ammonia while sustaining crop productivity by applying enhanced efficiency fertilizers. Moreover, he intends to utilize data collected over three years from six field sites annually, in conjunction with DeNitrification DeComposition (DNDC) modeling, to simulate nitrogen cycling and assess nitrous oxide emissions.
Prior to joining NC State, DoYeong completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in soil science at Pusan National University in South Korea. During his graduate studies, he researched recycling byproducts like bottom ash to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, he contributed to research that registered nitrous oxide emission factors from various types of animal manure in South Korea with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Throughout the CEFS program, he eagerly anticipates gaining insights from colleagues and experts in this field, all the while applying and disseminating that knowledge through research and extension initiatives.
Bianca Jimenez | Doctorate | Applied Ecology | NC State University
Lillian Lower | Doctorate | Biological and Agricultural Engineering | NC State University
Lillian is a Ph.D. student in biological and agricultural engineering at North Carolina State University in the Biocarbon Utilization and Sequestration Lab. Her research is focused on producing anode materials for lithium-ion batteries from unique biomasses and waste materials via catalytic graphitization. This process can produce battery-grade graphite from previously non-graphitizing materials and will enable the valorization of lignocellulosic wastes and residues while producing an energy storage material. The goal of this work is to study the particular implications mechanism, biomass, catalyst type and loading have on electrochemical performance of the anode materials produced. Lillian hopes that this work will create more avenues for sustainability and waste utilization in North Carolina’s food and agriculture systems while establishing interdisciplinary partnerships between material scientists and agricultural stakeholders. Before beginning her doctoral program, Lillian received her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Gonzaga University and her master’s degree in biological and agricultural engineering from NC State. She has also had the chance to work on small and large-scale urban and rural farms through an AmeriCorps term of service in West Virginia. She continues to pursue her passions for sustainability and service by being an active member of her department’s education and outreach group. Through the CEFS Fellowship, Lillian hopes to learn more about North Carolina’s farming systems and how her and her peer’s research and extension projects can create lasting impacts. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her dog and cooking.
Leticia Santos | Doctorate | Biological and Agricultural Engineering | NC State University
Leticia Santos is a Ph.D. student in biological and agricultural engineering at North Carolina State University, in the Intelligent Data for Energy and Agriculture Logistics and Supply Chain Lab (IDEALS), led by Dr. Daniela Jones. Her mentors also include Dr. Chris Reberg-Horton, as well as researchers from USDA and USGS. Her research focuses on using satellite imagery, a low-cost and scalable alternative for crop residue cover estimation, to map historical conservation tillage practices on agricultural lands. By quantifying soil cover residue through remotely sensed data and machine learning techniques, Leticia aims to empower government agencies and agricultural stakeholders with high-throughput methods to measure, monitor, report, and verify tillage intensity practices on large-scale farms. These assessments could incentivize climate-smart practices such as conservation tillage and cover crops, reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Before beginning her doctoral program, Leticia holds a bachelor’s degree from Sao Paulo State University (UNESP) in agronomy, a master’s degree from UNESP in Plant Production and a second master’s from Louisiana State University in plant and environmental soil science. She has also had the chance to work on large-scale rural farms Bayer Crop Science in the heart of Brazilian Midwest agriculture. She continues to pursue her passions for agriculture and sustainability by actively participating in her department’s mentorship group. Through the CEFS Fellowship, Leticia aims to deepen her understanding of North Carolina’s farming systems and explore how her research, along with her peers’ extension projects, can drive meaningful and lasting change in our agricultural workforce. In her free time, she enjoys cooking and crocheting.
Fred Teasley | Doctorate | Crop and Soil Sciences | NC State University
Fred Teasley is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences working with advisor Dr. Alex Woodley. His research is investigating soil health dynamics of farming systems transitioning from conventional to organic management. Soil health, a concept that can be broadly defined as functioning for a desired purpose, is largely tied to soil organic carbon in agroecosystems. Soil organic carbon is important for organic farming because it promotes soil biological activity, which in turn controls the release of plant nutrients from important sources, such as cover crop residues. Farmers seeking to adopt organic management are often hampered by low soil organic carbon levels, a condition especially pertinent to the Coastal Plain region of North Carolina. Therefore, the conventional-to-organic transition period represents a period of increased risk for farmers seeking to maximize yields and maintain profit.
Soil health indicators, laboratory tests that couple the biological, chemical, and physical functions of soil, can provide useful insight into the capacity of agricultural soils for supporting organic management during the transition period. However, test results may be subject to differences between soils of different regions, necessitating region-specific studies that seek to better understand how test results should be interpreted. Fred’s research seeks to better understand which soil health indicators are of the most relevance to organically managed, low carbon soils of the North Carolina Coastal Plain.
Fred obtained a B.S. from Towson University in environmental science and a M.S. from the University of Delaware in plant and soil science. His interest in agriculture was initially kindled while engaged in work-trade arrangements on small farms located throughout the United States. Upon graduating from the University of Delaware, he took a job unrelated to agriculture, working for a local government, but realized that his interest in agriculture was not abating when he found himself running backyard, DIY field studies in soil fertility. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music, cooking, and repairing vintage motorcycles.
Former CEFS Graduate Fellows
Click here to view the past cohorts of CEFS Graduate Fellows