Steven Hall
Steven is the lab’s Principal Investigator and is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences at UW-Madison. He was previously an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University. He received a PhD in Ecosystem Science from the University of California-Berkeley, and an MS in Environment and Resources and a BS in Botany from UW-Wisconsin. Aside from practicing and communicating science, and chasing around two young children, he enjoys biking, hiking, making music, and occasional construction projects.
Moira Keith
Moira is an MS student in Agroecology studying nitrate leaching in potato fields. She received a BS in Environmental Science at UW-Madison in 2022. Outside of the lab Moira enjoys boating, camping, and reading.
Matthew Leeford
Matthew (fordmatthew3017 [at] gmail.com) is a research scientist who coordinates field and lab projects for our group. He first joined the lab in 2020 as a technician and in 2023 he completed an MS degree in Environmental Science from Iowa State University, where he tested the influence of soil organic matter on nitrate removal from saturated riparian buffers. He received a BS in environmental science and a minor in chemistry from Northern Arizona University. Matthew’s interests are focused in environmental chemistry and the foundation it sets for healthy ecosystems.
Maneisha Lewis
Maneisha is an MS student in the Agroecology program. She received her BS in Environmental Resource Science at the University of Georgia, where she worked on an undergraduate research project on the effects of soil pH on anthocyanin concentrations in Hibiscus ‘Thai Roselle’. For her MS research, she will study phosphorous and nitrogen loss from overwintering cover crops in Wisconsin. Besides her interest in research, Maneisha enjoys drawing/painting, biking, playing video games, and traveling.
Shane Stoner
Shane is postdoctoral researcher interested in the controls on organic carbon persistence in soils. His previous work focused on reactive soil minerals and using radiocarbon to understand carbon cycling and persistence. He also studied earthworms in agroecosystems, and is a current guiding member of the International Soil Radiocarbon Database (ISRaD). Growing up in Montana, he continues to enjoy canoeing, backpacking, cycling, pro wrestling, and table-top role playing games
Hariom Yadav
Hariom (hyadav8 [at] wisc.edu) is a PhD student in the UW-Madison Agronomy program. He earned an MS in Crop and Soil Science from the University of Georgia, and a BS from the Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal. His research will focus on understanding and mitigating nitrate leaching in Wisconsin cropping systems.
Current Undergraduate Researchers
Grace Larsen
Grace is an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They are a double major studying conservation biology and landscape and urban studies. Outside of the lab, they enjoy listening to music, spending time with friends, and being outdoors.
Elyse Whittaker
Elyse is an undergraduate student studying Conservation Biology with a Geology and Geophysics certificate at UW-Madison. Her work in the lab has focused on nitrate analysis in soil and water.
Lab Alumni (former postdocs, scientists, and graduate students)
Wenjuan Huang
Wenjuan was a Postdoctoral scholar and then a Research Scientist in the ISU lab from 2016 to 2023, and is currently an Assistant Professor at Iowa State University. She earned her PhD from the Chinese Academy of Sciences South China Botanical Garden. Wenjuan has a broad research program focusing on soil carbon and nutrient dynamics and ecosystem modeling.
Holly Loper
Holly earned a PhD from the ISU Interdepartmental Microbiology program in 2024, where here work focused on understanding nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions from corn-based agricultural systems. Prior to ISU, she received a Bachelors of Science with a double major in Bioinformatics and General Biology from Michigan Technological University.
Carlos Tenesaca
Carlos (Charlie4 [at] iastate.edu) was a Research Scientist in the ISU lab from 2018 to 2023 who coordinated numerous projects related to soil greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient leaching. He now has a similar position in Dr. William Crumpton’s lab group at ISU, and continues to collaborate with our team on ongoing research. Carlos earned a BS and MS from ISU, where his research focused on soil health and greenhouse gas emissions .
Wenjuan Yu
Wenjuan Yu earned a PhD from the ISU Environmental Science program in 2022. She is now an Assistant Professor at Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University, China.
Holly Curtinrich
Holly earned a PhD from the ISU Environmental Science program in 2022. Her dissertation tested the impacts of metals on carbon and nutrient cycling in boreal peatlands. She is now working as an Environmental Scientist in the private sector.
Nate Lawrence
Nate Lawrence earned a PhD from the ISU Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program in 2021, with a dissertation focused on understanding nitrous oxide and nitrate leaching from hydric agricultural soils. He is now a Research Scientist with the Savanna Institute in Madison, WI.
Chenglong Ye
Chenglong worked in the ISU lab from 2017 to 2019 as a visiting PhD student from Nanjing Agricultural University, where he is now an Associate Professor. His research focuses on soil organic matter dynamics in natural and managed ecosystems