Panel Speakers
Efficiency and effectiveness of spray application Panel
University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE), Farm Advisor-Central Sierra Region
Lynn Wunderlich has served as a UCCE Farm Advisor since 2000, focusing on IPM in fruit trees and wine grapes grown in California’s Sierra foothill region. She earned her B.S. in Bacteriology at University of Wisconsin-Madison and her M.S. at University of California-Davis in Plant Protection and Pest Management. She began studying spray application for her M.S. thesis under Dr. Ken Giles, developing a sprayer for green lacewing eggs. Lynn has given numerous extension presentations and field days on sprayer calibration. She recently led a California Pest Management Alliance grant project where her Team delivered airblast sprayer trainings to N. CA. applicators and created an online sprayer calibration course. Lynn and her Team were recognized and awarded a 2020 California IPM Achievement Award for this work.
UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor, Colusa and Sutter/Yuba Counties
Franz Niederholzer started as an Orchard Systems Advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension in 2002. His primary crop responsibilities are almonds and prunes. Since 2010, Franz has also been the Research Coordinator at the Nickels Soil Lab and Head Trustee of the Leslie Nickels Trust in Arbuckle, California. He is also an original member of the UC ANR Spray Application Technology Work Group, serving as chair of that work group since it started in 2006. Franz has participated in research projects on pest management, mineral nutrition (nitrogen, potassium, and/or boron), spray coverage and drift, rootstock evaluation and cropload management.
Gwen-Alyn Hoheisel
Washington State University Regional Extension Specialist, Benton County Director
Gwen Hoheisel is a regional extension specialist with Washington State University focusing on perennial fruit crops and more specifically sustainable pest management, blueberry horticulture, and application technologies. She has degrees in zoology from the University of Maryland and entomology from Pennsylvania State University focusing on IPM and insect diversity.
Dr. Erdal Ozkan is a Professor of Agricultural Engineering at the Ohio State University. He received his B.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering at Ataturk University in Turkey, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Engineering at University of Missouri, in USA. Professor Ozkan is internationally recognized for his scholarly activities in the area of pesticide application technology and pesticide waste management. In addition to conducting research and co-teaching a course in Pesticide Application, he provides leadership in development and implementation of Extension educational programs in Ohio related to new developments in pesticide application technology. Professor Ozkan has produced a variety of educational materials. He has authored or co-authored 5 book chapters, over 70 refereed journal publications, 60 other educational publications for pesticide applicators, farmers and sprayer manufacturers. Twenty of his educational materials have received the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Educational Aids Blue Ribbon Award. He has presented technical papers at over 100 conferences in the U.S.A. and in other countries. He is a Fellow of ASABE, a recognition given to only 10 to 12 ASABE members annually for their outstanding scholarly accomplishments.
Spray Decision Support Utilization Panel
Patricia Chueca is in charge of the Agricultural Mechanization Laboratory at the Agro-Engineering Centre of IVIA since 2014. She holds a MSc and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering and a MSc in Environmental Sciences from the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain). She has performed a stay in the University of California in USA, optimizing spray application techniques in citrus. She has been a member of the research group of 4 European and 5 national projects, and currently, she is the IVIA coordinator of the European project PERFECT LIFE, the coordinator of the National project FUNGITECH, and has some contracts/projects funded by private sector. All projects are related with agricultural mechanization, precision agriculture, spray technology, biopesticides application, environmental impact, drift, and integrated pest management. She is part of a National and European working group on harmonization of dose expression in high growing crops and the National working group on techniques and equipment for the application of pesticides.
Application Technology Specialist, OMAFRA
Jason studied biology & psychology at Mount Allison University, plant cell physiology at York University and plant cell electrophysiology at the University of Guelph. Based in Ontario’s Simcoe Resource Centre since 2008, he researches and develops practical methods to optimize productivity, spray effectiveness and reduce waste. Co-author of “Airblast101 – Your Guide to Effective and Efficient Spraying”, he also co-administers www.sprayers101.com.
Jason studied biology & psychology at Mount Allison University, plant cell physiology at York University and plant cell electrophysiology at the University of Guelph. Based in Ontario’s Simcoe Resource Centre since 2008, he researches and develops practical methods to optimize productivity, spray effectiveness and reduce waste. Co-author of “Airblast101 – Your Guide to Effective and Efficient Spraying”, he also co-administers www.sprayers101.com.
UCCE Water Management and Biometeorology Advisor, San Luis Obispo/Santa Barbara Counties
Mark graduated with a B.S. in Agronomy from Colorado State University and an M.S. in Hydrologic Sciences from UC Davis. He subsequently spent two years at the Institute of Sustainable Agriculture in Cordoba, Spain as a Fulbright and then exchange scholar. Mark began his UCCE career in 2001 as the Viticulture Farm Advisor for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, and in 2018 his role shifted to Water Management and Biometeorology Advisor for the same region. He works on a variety of water- and weather-related issues for the region, reflecting the importance of these topics for local agriculture. In his spare time, he sprays Canada Thistle, Spotted Knapweed and Cheatgrass in Colorado.
Models in Drift Regulation Panel
Maziar Kandelous, Ph.D.
Manager, Air Program, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
Maziar Kandelous has been with DPR for the last 5 years as a Senior Environmental Scientist, the Air Program Supervisor, and now the Air Program Manager. Air Program is one of the three programs under Environmental Monitoring Branch.
Maziar has a Bachelors in Irrigation Engineering, a Masters in Soil Physics from the University of Tehran, a Ph.D. in Soil Hydrology from UC Davis, and numerous publications in various prestigious peer reviewed journals. Prior to joining DPR as a Senior Environmental Scientist in 2017, He resided at Oregon State University where he was working as an Assistant Professor and a Soil Water Quality Specialist for OSU's Extension Service.
Colin Brown
Research Scientist, Air Monitoring Program, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
Colin Brown is a Research Scientist within the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Air Monitoring Program, which he joined in 2015. His primary responsibilities within the program include the modeling of fumigant emissions and pesticide drift. He has additionally led several ambient air and spray drift monitoring studies and participates in thedevelopment of statewide pesticide regulatory measures. Prior to his role at DPR, Colin worked for several years in vertical farm production of vegetable crops. Colin holds a master’s degree in Environmental Management from Yale University, where his research focused on desertification and locust outbreaks in pastureland.
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University
Lav Khot is an Associate Professor of Precision Agriculture in the department of Biological Systems Engineering (BSE). He is also the Interim Director for WSU’s Agricultural Weather Network. He is one of the core faculty member of CPAAS at the Irrigated Agriculture Research Education Center, WSU Prosser. He has a BS, MS, and PhD in Agricultural Engineering. Lav primarily works in the agricultural automation research emphasis area of BSE department. His research and extension program focuses on sensing and automation technologies for site specific and precision management of production agriculture.
Supervisory Agricultural Engineer, Aerial Application Technology Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Dr. Brad Fritz is an agricultural engineer and serves as the Research Leader of the USDA ARS Aerial Application Technology group in College Station, Texas. His areas of research include spray drift measurement and mitigation, spray atomization, and optimization of application technologies and methods to enhance on target deposition while mitigating off target impact. He is currently an active member of a number of professional organizations including the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, ASTM E35, the American Mosquito Control Association, and the National Agricultural Aviation Association.
TEALS, LLC, Whitesville, New York
Dr. Thistle received his PhD in 1988 in Plant Science with an emphasis on Plant Environment from the University of Connecticut. The research topic involved the measurement of turbulent airflows in forest canopies. He is an American Meteorological Society Certified Consulting Meteorologist (CCM). He started his career as a private consultant in the area of regulatory air pollution modeling followed by 26 years working for the USDA Forest Service as a technology development manager. Among other projects, the development of the AGDISP pesticide spray deposition model fell under the purview of Dr. Thistle’s program. Currently, Dr. Thistle is again a private consultant with projects in the areas of spray drift from manned aircraft, evaluation of spray drift from UASS, developing models to describe spray drift from orchard spraying; as well as the analysis of atmospheric transport and dispersion of invasive forest pathogens.
Day 3: Regulatory Adoption and Industry Acceptance of New Data/Models Panel
Maziar Kandelous, Ph.D.
Manager, Air Program, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
Maziar Kandelous has been with DPR for the last 5 years as a Senior Environmental Scientist, the Air Program Supervisor, and now the Air Program Manager. Air Program is one of the three programs under Environmental Monitoring Branch.
Maziar has a Bachelors in Irrigation Engineering, a Masters in Soil Physics from the University of Tehran, a Ph.D. in Soil Hydrology from UC Davis, and numerous publications in various prestigious peer reviewed journals. Prior to joining DPR as a Senior Environmental Scientist in 2017, He resided at Oregon State University where he was working as an Assistant Professor and a Soil Water Quality Specialist for OSU's Extension Service.
Aniela Burant, Ph.D.
Supervisor, Air Program, Environmental Monitoring Branch, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
Aniela Burant is the Air Program Supervisor with Environmental Monitoring Branch at the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Aniela received her BS in environmental engineering from the University of Florida and her MS and PhD from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to joining DPR, Aniela did her postdoctoral research on trace organic contaminants in stormwater at the Colorado School of Mines.
Aniela joined the Air Program in November 2021, but has been with the Environmental Monitoring Branch since May 2017, working with the Surface Water Protection Program.
Gabriele Ludwig, Ph.D.
Director, Sustainability & Environmental Affairs, Almond Board of California
President, California Citrus Quality Council (CCQC)
CCQC provides advocacy to improve the strategic and economic interests of California citrus growers and packers. Cranney represents the California citrus industry on technical and regulatory issues domestically and overseas. He works with government agencies, international standards setting organizations and trading partners to solve problems related to market access, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, food safety, food additive and pesticide residue regulations that may restrict or eliminate trade of citrus fruits.
Cranney holds an M.S. in Agricultural Economics and a B.S. in Food Marketing.
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