People

I completed my Bachelor’s Degree in Land and Agroforestry Science and my Master’s Degree in Vegetable Biotechnology and Crop Production at the University of Bologna (Italy). I am now a PhD candidate in Patrick H Brown’s lab at the University of California Davis, focusing on K dynamics in the almond system.

Andrew Margenot is a soil scientist and biogeochemist who joined the faculty at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2017, where he is currently Associate Professor. Dr. Margenot leads a research team that combines soil science and agronomy to understand the biogeochemical processes that underpin agroecosystem function. A key emphasis of his research group is optimizing nutrient use efficiency for agronomic and environmental sustainability of agriculture. 

Singh’s faculty appointment includes research and Extension responsibilities in applied soil science-agroecology and landscape position management. He serves as State Extension Specialist for landscape position management. His research is focused on spatial/temporal modeling of nutrient dynamics in the plant, soil, water, and gaseous phases ranging from plot scale to watershed scale. His program includes developing prescription models for landscape position-based research. His research also involves understanding the effects of management practices such as cover crops, tillage, and topography on crop yields, soil and water quality in row crop production systems. At the Northern Missouri Research, Extension and Education Center, his program emphasizes nutrient management for sustainable crop production that reduces the environmental effects of farming practices at the field and farm scale.

Dr. Mike Daniels has served as a Soil and Water Conservation Specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service for the past twenty-seven years.  During this time, Dr. Daniels has developed and implemented innovative Extension programs as well as conducted applied research to help agricultural producers and conservation professionals address soil- and water-related issues facing Arkansas agriculture.  His program has emphasized the development of partners to work collectively to increase the knowledge and application of soil and water conservation practices to improve water quality, soil health, increase irrigation water use efficiency and reduce nutrient losses in runoff.

He is Director of the Arkansas Discovery Farms program where the impact of agricultural practices on water resources are documented on private farms and agricultural producers are included in the solution process in resolving water-related issues.  He also co-leads the Arkansas Soil Health Extension Team and served as Chair of SERA-46, a workgroup of land-grant universities from 13 States in the Mississippi river basin that works with the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force.  He has held several leadership positions with state, regional and national professional organizations. 

He has been married to Tricia for almost 36 years has three grown sons and a grandson, Canyon.  He enjoys trout fishing, Razorback sports and visiting state and national parks.

Dr. Lindsay Pease is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She is stationed at the Northwest Research & Outreach Center in the heart of the Red River Basin of the North. Prior to coming to Minnesota in 2018, Dr. Pease evaluated the water quality outcomes of agricultural best management practices in Ohio’s Western Lake Erie Basin watershed with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and with The Ohio State University where she earned her Ph.D. Dr. Pease’s research and outreach programming is focused on balancing agricultural productivity with environmental stewardship. She is currently working to adapt the lessons learned from the Western Lake Erie Basin to the Red River Basin’s unique cropping systems and climate.

Dr. Jared D. Williams is a professor of crop and soil science at Brigham Young University-Idaho where he teaches courses and conducts research in soil and nutrient management. Jared is a two time U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Cambodia where he has taught classes and conducted research in soil health at the Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He as a Ph.D. in soil science from North Carolina State University, M.S. in agronomy from the University of Missouri, and a B.S. in crop and soil science from Brigham Young University.

Dr. Alison Eagle works as a Senior Scientist for the Climate-Smart Agriculture team at Environmental Defense Fund. She conducts research and provides scientific support on issues related to field-crop nutrient management, soil carbon and other aspects of agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation and climate resilience. Dr. Eagle’s research translates agronomic, soil science and economic data to help decision makers access sound scientific evidence. Recent publications include syntheses and meta-analyses on nitrous oxide and nitrate losses and address issues of on-farm nitrogen management, research data standardization, and metrics for quantifying environmental outcomes from agricultural management interventions. Before joining EDF more than seven years ago, Dr. Eagle worked as a research scientist at Duke University. She holds a PhD from Wageningen University (2009), a MS from the  University of California–Davis (2000) and a BSc from the University of Alberta (1997).

Dan Olk is a soil biochemist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service and works at the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, Iowa. He is a Ph.D. graduate (1993) of the University of California, Davis and worked for eight years at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines before his employment with the USDA-ARS (2001-present). Since 2009 Dr. Olk has conducted field evaluations of humic products in corn─soybean rotations of the U.S. Midwest, studying the efficacy of humic products for improving crop growth as influenced by environmental variables, including annual weather patterns and soil type.  Field research has also addressed responses by corn structural biochemistry and root growth to humic products, and more recently has studied long-term benefits to soil physical properties.

In a rapidly transforming world, data has become the new competitive advantage. And according to future trends expert Paul Zikopoulos, “Every day we walk by solvable problems, leaving opportunities untapped.” The VP of Technology Unit Skills & Enablement at IBM, Zikopoulos discusses how working these “solvable problems” creates disruption in the marketplace and how golden signals of opportunity can be found within mountains of noise. At IBM, Paul leads from the front, owning accountability and strategic direction in a “tech years are like dog years” world for the entire IBM Technology Unit’s (all IBM software and hardware) sales, tech sales, and partner ecosystem learning journeys, and upskilling programs.

Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau for lectures, Paul is changing the way audiences are looking at their businesses in terms of potential sales, obstacles, potential for growth, and how they utilize technology, such as generative AI and cloud applications, to support their organizations. Paul shares future trends that are starting to happen in real-time and have multiple applications: from garbage cans that alert sanitation departments when they need collection – saving cities millions – to shampoo brands that are connecting weather forecasts with personal consumer profiles to suggest the right mix of hair products for the day. He easily discusses the next generation of technological change from the power of machine learning and voice-to-text, to the opportunities in reading digital body language and joining the Internet of Things trillion sensor economy, and more.

Incredibly energetic and easy to follow, Paul is the antithesis of what many people think of when they consider a big data expert. Using incredible visuals, including a hashtag aggregator that instantly creates examples of perfectly segmented consumers live on stage, Paul amazes audiences with the amount of information available to change the conversation about your industry. By sharing his insights on where big data comes from and the idea that “If you aren’t paying for it, you are being sold,” Paul breaks apart the roles of data collection and decision making for executives seeking the opportunities for disrupting their industry and leap-frogging the competition.

Paul is an award-winning tech thought leader and writer who has shared his expertise on AI and big data on the popular TV show, 60 Minutes, as well as in publications such as Technopedia and Analytics Week. He has published 21 books, including Cloud Without Compromise, The AI Ladder, and three ‘For Dummies’ titles, and more than 360 articles during his, as he calls it, accidental 28-year career as a data nerd — which he began with no prior coding experience. Among the leading voices in tech and big data, Paul has been named in dozens of global “Experts to Follow” & “Influencers” lists, including Analytics Insight’s “Top 100 Global AI & Big Data Influencers” and SAP’s “50 Big Data Twitter Influencers.” Currently, he is writing an O’Reilly book on Hybrid Cloud. An expert in harnessing the power of big data, Paul brings real world experience from his at time managing more than 1,400 professionals to help groups build influence and affect change in their organization. 

Paul has taken an active role in bolstering Women in Technology, LGBT and general workplace inclusivity (completing an intensive D&I certificate at Cornell University), and Coding for Veterans. In addition to being the first and only male ever to be recognized as an IBM Canada “Women in Technology Ally of the Year” award winner, he is a seated board member for Switch (formerly known as Women 2.0), a global network and social platform for aspiring and current female founders of technology ventures who he became involved with after one of his tweets was mentioned on the TV show “The View.” He is also on the world-recognized Masters of Management Analytics and AI program boards at Canada’s prestigious Queen’s University.

Michelle Schultz was sworn in on January 11, 2021, as a new member of the Surface Transportation Board.  Michelle was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 18, 2020.  Michelle served as Vice Chairman of the Board from February 2022 to January 2023.

For the previous 14 years, Michelle served in various leadership roles with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which serves the public transportation needs of over one million daily riders in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. She is regarded as a leading lawyer and policy professional in the public transportation space. Most recently, Michelle served as SEPTA’s Deputy General Counsel, where her responsibilities included: representing the agency before the Federal Railroad Administration and Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission; serving as lead counsel on a major railroad reconstruction project; overseeing compliance, regulatory, and legislative issues; and, serving as lead counsel on real estate transactions and contract negotiations.

During her time with SEPTA, Michelle also served as the Director of Legislative Affairs where she managed a team of public policy professionals who advocated for SEPTA on the local, state and federal level. She was also responsible for reviewing legislation and regulations at the local, state and federal level for impact to SEPTA as well as drafting provisions. Michelle served as SEPTA’s representative to the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association and the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition.

Early in her career, Michelle was an associate with White and Williams LLP where she represented businesses from diverse industries with a focus on financing matters including Chapter 7 and 11 bankruptcy, commercial litigation, and collection matters. Prior her time in private practice, she served as a judicial law clerk for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and prior to that, as a judicial law clerk for the late Vincent A. Cirillo, President Judge Emeritus of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Schultz obtained a Master of Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania; a Juris Doctor from Widener University School of Law; and a Bachelor of Arts from the Pennsylvania State University. She is licensed to practice law in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.