Science Advisory Council
The Science Advisory Council provides expert guidance to Field to Market's membership that will ensure best available science is used throughout our program when establishing metrics, as well as measuring, monitoring and reporting on sustainability outcomes. The Council reflects a diversity of scientific disciplines ranging from greenhouse gas modeling, soil science, hydrology, wildlife biology and statistical sampling. The group assists with providing peer review of key Field to Market reports and publications.
Ed Barnes
Senior Director, Agriculture and Environmental Research
Cotton Incorporated
Dr. Edward M. Barnes is senior director of Agricultural and Environmental Research at Cotton Incorporated where, for the last thirteen years, he has managed agricultural engineering related projects, including programs on: precision farming, ginning, irrigation management, conservation tillage and cotton harvest systems. He spent seven years as an agricultural engineer for the USDA Agricultural Research Service at the U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory in Phoenix, AZ developing uses of remotely sensed data for agricultural management, with a focus on water optimization.
Bruno Basso
Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Michigan State University
Dr. Bruno Basso is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and W.K. Kellogg Biological Station at Michigan State University. Dr. Basso is an internationally recognized agro-ecosystem modeler with primary research interests in water, carbon, nitrogen cycling and process-based modeling of agricultural systems for long-term sustainability. His research integrates crop modeling with remote sensing to understand spatial and temporal variability of crop yield. He is the lead author of SALUS, and principal investigator of the USDA Precisa project, a multimillion research effort on climate-water-nutrient smart technologies.
Casey Shelley
Natural Resources Specialist
U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service
Mr. Shelly has 25 years of experience with NRCS working on conservation planning and implementation at multiple levels. His career has taken him from Iowa, to Colorado, Alaska, Wyoming, and most recently to the Pacific Northwest. Currently, Shelly serves as the NRCS conservation planning assessment lead within the National Conservation Planning Branch and his primary responsibilities are in NRCS policy and procedure writing, as well as NRCS business tools IT development.
Tai McClellan Maaz
University of Hawaiʻi
Dr. Maaz researches and teaches soil fertility at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her work is rooted in biogeochemistry, and she is particularly interested in how nutrients transform and flow in and out of soils. Her research examines the impact of land management on nutrient losses, plant productivity, and overall soil health. She currently serves as the Program Coordinator for the Data Driven Agriculture Summer Research Program in the Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences.
Thomas Green
President & Co-founder
IPM Institute of North America
Dr. Thomas Green is a leader in market-based sustainability initiatives and integrated pest management (IPM). He is president and co-founder of the IPM Institute of North America, a non-profit working to leverage marketplace power to improve health, environment and economics in agriculture and communities. Dr. Green was awarded the Entomological Foundation’s Medal of Honor in 2015. He is a certified crop adviser and a USDA NRCS-certified technical service provider. Dr. Green holds a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Massachusetts and has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications.
Shamitha Keerthi
Science Director, Regenerative Crop Systems, North America Agriculture
The Nature Conservancy
Shamitha Keerthi is the science director for the Regenerative Crop Systems strategy for the North America Agriculture Program. In this role, Shamitha leads science to support programmatic goals, by building the evidence base around conservation, addressing knowledge gaps, and leading measurement and evaluation. She works to build strategic science partnerships with research and academic institutions to co-produce decision-relevant science in service of conservation outcomes.
Eileen McLellan
Senior Scientist, Ecosystems Program
Environmental Defense Fund
Dr. Eileen McLellan is a senior scientist in the Ecosystems Program for Environmental Defense Fund. Dr. McLellan received her Ph.D. in Earth Science from Cambridge University (UK). She spent 16 years as a faculty member at the University of Maryland, before taking a position as a Congressional Science Fellow on Capitol Hill in 2000. Following that experience, she has held a variety of positions related to environmental and natural resource issues in the private and nonprofit sector. She is currently focusing on improving water quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in agricultural landscapes of the Midwest and East Coast.
Michelle Reba
Research Hydrologist
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Dr. Reba is a research hydrologist and lead scientist at the USDA-ARS Delta Water Management Research Unit (DWMRU)-located on campus at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, AR. The mission of the unit is to execute research related to agricultural water resources management at the plot, field, farm and watershed scales to further our knowledge base, evaluate technological solutions and inform crop production practices. Dr. Reba was contributor to the work Field to Market did on rice methane, is an author of the forthcoming USDA GHG measurement guidelines, and is helping lead an ARS Water Research Vision process.
Ed Spevak
Curator of Invertebrates
St. Louis Zoo
Dr. Ed Spevak is currently the curator of invertebrates at the Saint Louis Zoo. Dr. Spevak has dedicated the last 37 years of his career to the conservation of invertebrates and vertebrates working in zoos and aquariums as a zoo curator and small population biologist. He is the director of Saint Louis Zoo’s WildCare Institute Center for Native Pollinator Conservation, serves as the Programme Officer for the IUCN SSC Bumblebee Specialist Group, co-chairs the Bumble Bee Task Force of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign and is on the Steering Committees of the Honey Bee Health Coalition and Keystone Monarch Collaborative.