Alumni

Sam Bauer

Sam received an M.Sc. in Applied Plant Sciences in 2011. His thesis work focused on late fall nitrogen fertilization and methods for increasing creeping bentgrass in golf course fairways. Later, he joined UMN Extension as Extension Educator for turfgrass, a position he held until 2018. He is now the executive director of the North Central Turfgrass Association, owner of North Central Sod, and a consultant, working on a number of turf-related projects in Minnesota and the surrounding states.

Matt Cavanaugh

Matt evaluated methods for establishing no-mow fine fescues on golf courses for his M.Sc., which he received in 2012. Matt then worked in industry, returned to conduct research in our program, and is currently Operations Director at BioLawn.

Dominic Christensen

Dominic graduated in late 2021 with a M.Sc. degree in Applied Plant Sciences. His thesis work focused on designing and testing multi-species mixtures for roadsides in Minnesota. After graduation, he worked as a researcher for the turfgrass research group and is currently a soil conservationist in Glencoe, Minnesota for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Matt Clark

Matt completed an M.Sc. degree working with prairie junegrass breeding in 2010. He then joined the apple breeding program at the University of Minnesota where he received a Ph.D. and completed a postdoc. Matt is now Associate Professor in Horticultural Science at UMN leading the apple breeding program and also serves as the Director of Research for the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

Shane Evans

Shane joined our team in March 2020 as our lawn water conservation educator. In that role he collaborated with the Metropolitan Council to advance outreach and research aimed at reducing water use throughout the Twin Cities. In 2021, Shane moved on to a position with The METER group in Pullman, Washington.

Josh Friell

Josh led our first major research efforts on roadside turfgrasses beginning in 2010. His Ph.D. work resulted in a number of publications and helped us continue to lead in the area of roadside turfgrass research. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2014 and is now a Chief Research Scientist at The Toro Company, where he works with the Center for Advanced Turf Technology group. He is also Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota.

Garett Heineck

Garett completed his M.Sc. in Applied Plant Sciences with an emphasis on plant breeding and genetics in 2016, and his Ph.D. in 2019. His work throughout both degrees focused on improving seed production systems for perennial ryegrass via breeding, agronomics, and fungal endophyte enhancement. After graduating, Garett continued to work as a postdoc at both UMN and Washington State University, then joined the USDA-ARS as a cropping systems agronomist. Garett is now a turf and forage breeder with Smith Seed Services in Halsey, Oregon.

Clemon Dabney

Clemon completed his M.Sc. degree in 2014. Clemon then went on to earn a Ph.D. in Plant Biology working on cannabis genomics with George Weiblen at the University of Minnesota. Clemon is now CEO of Doctor Dabs and a contributing writer for the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Kari Hugie

Kari conducted applied research on low-input turfgrass species and marketing research on consumer attitudes about low-input turfgrass traits. She completed her M.Sc. in 2013 and then joined the cotton breeding program at Texas A&M. Kari was awarded her Ph.D. in 2015 and is now a researcher with Syngenta where she works in breeding and genetics.

Aaron Johnsen

Aaron conducted research on turf irrigation efficiency for his M.Sc. which he completed in 2008. He then moved on to work in the turf industry and finally found his way to Land O'Lakes Inc./Winfield Solutions, where he worked for 11 years, the last two as Director of Golf Business. He is now working at Biolawn, a company he co-founded.

Eric Koeritz

Eric received his Ph.D. in plant breeding and molecular genetics in 2014. His Ph.D. work focused on both best management practices for perennial ryegrass seed production and using metabolomics to improve rust resistance in perennial ryegrass. Eric is currently working on corn breeding and genetics with Syngenta.

Ian Lane

Ian was co-advised by Dr. Watkins and Dr. Marla Spivak in Entomology. His work on bee lawns has received much attention and interest. After completing his M.Sc. in spring 2016, Ian stayed in Entomology to pursue a Ph.D. and is now working in Minnesota for the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a data scientist.

Joan Barreto Ortiz

Joan graduated with an M.Sc. in Applied Plant Sciences in late 2021. His work focused on increasing our understanding of seed shattering in perennial ryegrass so that plant breeders can develop cultivars with higher shattering resistance. Joan is now pursuing a Ph.D. in the lab of Dr. Candice Hirsch in the Department of Agronomy and Genetics at the University of Minnesota.

Yinjie Qiu

Yinjie completed his Ph.D. in plant breeding and molecular genetics in 2020. His Ph.D. work focused on using different high throughput sequencing methods, such as next-generation sequencing, PacBio isoform sequencing to answer genomics questions in low-input turfgrass fine fescues. After his postdoc at the UMN Maize Translational Genomics lab, he is now working as a Research Informatics Analyst at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute with a focus on plant genomics.

Maggie Reiter

Maggie was part of our program beginning as an undergraduate and through her M.Sc. degree. Her master’s thesis examined selection and management of fine fescues for golf course fairways. She completed her M.Sc. degree in May 2016, and then worked in turfgrass Extension in both California and Minnesota. Maggie is now a Senior Scientist for Sunday Lawn Care.

Dan Sandor

Dan served as a postdoc from 2018-2019 and conducted our water-conservation research projects with the Metropolitan Council, and developed the irrigation technologies research project seen at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Dr. Sandor also led numerous outreach-education events throughout the Twin Cities Metropolitan area, including the lawn-education exhibit at Minnesota State Fair. He is now an Assistant Professor of Turfgrass Science at Virginia Tech.

Ryan Schwab

Ryan graduated in 2020 with a M.Sc. degree in Applied Plant Sciences. For his thesis work, he examined temperature and wetting agent performance. After graduation, he worked as a researcher for the turfgrass research group for a few years and now is working at Twin City Seed Company.

Florence Sessoms

Florence was a researcher with our group from 2016-2023 where she worked in a wide variety of research areas including drought tolerance, plant interactions with soil micro-organisms, fine fescue seed production, and much more. She is now an Assistant Professor in Roots, Rhizospheres, and Resilience at Ohio State University.

Chase Straw

Chase was a postdoc here from 2018-2019. His research focused on the spatial and temporal variability within turfgrass systems to develop practical strategies for reducing management inputs and improving the overall user experience. He is now an Assistant Professor of Turfgrass Soils at Penn State.

Jon Trappe

Jon worked with our group as a postdoc in 2016-2019. His primary efforts involved several projects on roadside turfgrass research funded by MnDOT. He also was involved with research on allelopathy in fine fescues and played an important role in homeowner outreach. He is now the UMN Turfgrass Extension Educator.

Maicy Vossen

Maicy Vossen completed her Ph.D. in 2026. Her work focused on improving freezing tolerance in perennial ryegrass. Maicy is now a postdoctoral researcher in the Sadok lab at UMN studying freeze tolerance in winter annual and perennial crops.

James Wolfin

James completed an M.Sc. degree in Entomology conducting a project on bee lawns that was a collaboration between the UMN Bee Lab and UMN Turfgrass Science. James now works at Twin City Seed Company as a Conservation Specialist and Sales Representative.

What are our former graduate students, postdocs and researchers doing now?

Connect with us