University of Maryland

Dr. John Lea-Cox, is Professor and Nursery Extension Specialist in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture. John leads the UM team effort and is the Principle Investigator and administrator of the entire project. John is a plant physiologist by training, but has always been interested in engineering and technology.  He has extensive experience in water and nutrient management for the nursery and greenhouse industry, with both his research and extension programs.

Dr. Andrew Ristvey, Senior Agent and Regional Extension Specialist for Commercial Horticulture is based at the Wye Research and Education Center.  Andrew is actively involved in quantifying water and nutrient use with wireless sensor networks, with a container-nursery research site at the Wye Research and Education Center.

Dr. Steve Cohan is Professor of the Practice in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture.  Steve is coordinator of the Landscape Management program and has championed the Green Roof initiative in the Department since 2006.   He has extensive experience in landscape principles and management and authored the book “Business Principles of Landscape Contracting” in 2005.

Dr. Erik Lichtenberg is Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, where he has been a faculty member since 1988.  His overall area of expertise is the relationship between agriculture and the environment.  Erik is currently an editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, the leading journal in the field of agricultural and resource economics.  Erik is a fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and served on National Academy of Sciences expert panels on genetically modified organisms and precision agriculture.

Dr. John Majsztrik is a Postdoctoral Research Associate, helping lead the Economic team effort. John recently completed his PhD on Modeling Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Water Dynamics in Greenhouse and Nursery Production Systems at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Jongyun Kim is a Postdoctoral Research Associate, working with the modeling team on the project. Jong recently completed his PhD on Water use and irrigation of ornamental plants - Modeling, Drought physiology, and Gene expression with Dr. Marc van Iersel at the University of Georgia. Jong will be leading the snapdragon water use modeling effort for the project

Olyssa Starry is a PhD Graduate Student working on Stormwater Modeling of Green Roofs for her Dissertation. Check out the green roof project pages and her blog for more information on this exciting research project.

Bruk Belayneh is technical lead for the project, supporting all research projects and sensor network installations. Bruk has a MS in Soil Science from the University of Gent in Belgium.

Ruth Miller is the Project Administrative Assistant. Ruth handles all financial and matching accounts from all five University and the two company subcontracts for the project.