Team Science in Agriculture and Natural Resources
This panel will address how research in agriculture and natural resources both depends on and informs team science.

Dr. Nicholas Haddad

Michigan State University

Nick Haddad is an ecologist and conservation biologist at the Kellogg Biological Station of Michigan State University. He is currently the Lead Principal Investigator for the 30-year old Long-Term Ecological Research experiment at Kellogg Biological Station. The research is on the effects of land use intensity on ecological systems, including effects of agricultural management on the environment, and effects of environmental management on agriculture. In 2018 there were 102 investigators and 57 graduate students conducting research at KBS Long-Term Ecological Research Center. He also directs a 25-year experimental study of effects of habitat loss and landscape corridors on biodiversity; and a 10-year experimental study of restoration on endangered butterflies.

Dr. Janice Siegfor

Michigan State Univeristy

Dr. Janice Siegford is an Associate Professor in the Department of Animal Science at Michigan State University. She is an applied ethologist who uses a combination of non-invasive approaches to study the behavior of swine and laying hens in production systems with the goal of improving their welfare. She has spent the last 10 years examining how laying hens behave in aviary systems to understand if these expanded housing systems really do promote better welfare for the birds. She also works with a multi-disciplinary team to examine the connection between social behavior  in group-living pigs and their underly-ing genotypes to determine if genetic selection can adapt pigs to modern pro-duction systems. Dr. Siegford mentors undergraduates completing independent research projects. She also teaches undergraduate courses in applied ethol-ogy and companion animal biology and management, a graduate course in ani-mal welfare, and delivers guest lectures across and beyond campus in courses ranging from current issues in agriculture to animal law.

 

Dr. Patricia Soranno

Michigan State University

Dr. Patricia A. Soranno is a broadly-trained ecologist who conducts interdisciplinary research on freshwater ecosystems at continental scales. All of her work is collaborative and much of it is also interdisciplinary. She enjoys crossing disciplinary boundaries to solve complex problems that benefit from a diversity of perspectives and approaches. She also conducts research about the contemporary practice of environmental science, including the emerging dominance of team-based research, open science, and data-intensive approaches. She is the founding editor-in-chief for  the Association of the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography’s newest open-access journal, Limnology & Oceanography Letters. And, she is a Sustaining Fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology & Oceanography.

 

Dr. Scott Swinton

Michigan State Univeristy

 
 

Scott Swinton is Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University. His research examines agriculture as a managed ecosystem, focusing on decision analysis for enhanced ecosystem services. He concentrates on problems involving crop, pest, pollination, and nutrient management; precision agriculture; resource conservation; and bioenergy production. Throughout his career, Scott has worked on multidisciplinary teams (mostly with biologists) seeking ways to make agriculture more sustainable via improved technology, information, and incentives. His research in the USA, Latin America, and Africa has been cited over 9,000 times (Google Scholar). Scott currently teaches undergraduate managerial economics and graduate research design & writing. He was elected president of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) for 2016-19 after serving as director
(2012-15).

Sheril Kirshembaum

Moderator: Michigan State University

Sheril Kirshenbaum works to enhance public understanding of science and improve communication between scientists, policymakers and the public. She has authored two books and her writing appears in popular publications and scientific journals. Sheril has been a 2015 Presidential Leadership Scholar, a Marshall Memorial Fellow, a legislative Fellow in the U.S. Senate and a Next Generation Fellow through the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law. She speaks internationally about science communication and has appeared at events like TEDGlobal and Cuidad de las Ideas. Sheril currently hosts "Our Tab

 

SciTS Presentation: Team Science in Animal ScienceTeam Science and Natural Resources Science