Undergraduate Research with K. Mosdossy

Evaluating soils in response to agricultural management is vital for a strong undergraduate career in Food and Agriculture. Since agricultural soils are complex ecosystems, rigorous quantitative assessment is necessary to evaluate the capacity for soils to sustainably grow food. Advanced students will conduct independent research to evaluate soil nutrient and carbon dynamics on the campus farm and gardens that produce meaningful data to inform current and future agricultural management practices. In particular, students will engage with the circular (bio)nutrient economy and nutrient sovereignty within the context of fertilizer use, economics, and socio-politics. Students will gain valuable skills in laboratory chemistry, microscopy, data management and analysis, literature review, and data synthesis through written and oral communication.

Research in this program includes soil sampling in the field, soil processing and analysis in the laboratory, microscopy, data management, data analysis, reading peer-reviewed literature, writing papers or reports, reading federal, state, and county legislature, and processing and applying urine fertilizer.

Advanced skills such as laboratory chemistry, microscopy, and data analysis are assets and, depending on the level of commitment by the student, are not necessarily required to be considered for this opportunity.

Krisz Mosdossyis a soil ecologist with a specialization in nematology and nutrient and carbon cycling in agroecosystems. She currently works in the emerging field of nutrient sovereignty, focusing on "pee-cycling", which involves using urine as a fertilizer. Her work includes identifying microarthropods under the microscope, as well as characterizing nematode, fungal, and bacterial communities in soil using molecular genetics. Students will have the opportunity to be a part of the transition away from fossil-fuel based fertilizers and towards a circular bionutrient economy.