Current Members
Dr. David Jespersen
Dr. David Jespersen is an associate professor in the University of Georgia’s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. He received in Ph.D. from Rutgers University in New Jersey, where he focused on turfgrass physiology under advisement of Dr. Bingru Huang. He started as a faculty member on the UGA Griffin Campus in 2016, focusing on Turfgrass physiology. His research interests include understanding how turfgrasses respond to abiotic stresses and the underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for stress tolerance.
Somer Rowe
Somer Rowe is a turfgrass research professional in the Crop and Soil Sciences department on the UGA Griffin Campus. Her lifelong interest in botany led to her earning a bachelor’s in Plant Biology and a master’s in plant Protection and Pest Management from the University of Georgia. She manages the greenhouse, maintains the field experiment plots, and aids in data collection for the lab.
Ravi Teja Seelam
Ravi is a graduate research student in the turf grass physiology lab of Dr. David Jespersen at the University of Georgia, Griffin campus. He started his Ph.D. program in crop and soil science in the fall of 2022. He completed his B.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture in 2020 (ANGRAU, Rajahmundry Campus) and graduated with a Master’s in Genetics and Plant Breeding in 2022 (ANGRAU- Bapatla Campus) India. In his Master’s he worked on Molecular Characterization of Genotypes for Thermotolerance in Rice. With his continuous curiosity towards the abiotic stresses in crop species, His doctoral program aims at elucidating drought stress genetic mechanisms, crop improvement strategies along with other molecular pathways in turf grass drought tolerance.
Saptarshi Mondal
Sarptarshi Mondal’s preliminary steps toward the world of biological sciences were paved by his father, who is a teacher in botany. He graduated with a BS in Agriculture (Hons.) from Visva Bharati, West Bengal, India. Then he moved to Punjab Agricultural University, India to pursue his MS in Plant Breeding and Genetics with ICAR-PG scholarship. After graduation, for a short period of time, he was appointed as Senior Research Fellow at PAU and BCKV, India. Presently, his doctoral research aims to explore the molecular genetics and physiological aspects of salt tolerance in different turfgrasses and crop species.
Qianqian Fan
Qianqian (Amy) Fan is a Ph.D. student in the University of Georgia’s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. Originally from China, Qianqian obtained her bachelor’s degree in Grassland Science from China Agricultural University in 2016, followed by a Master’s degree in Crop Science at Oregon State University in 2019. Her current research is to understand heat stress mechanisms in creeping bentgrass using approaches from both physiology and molecular biology, with a focus on protein metabolism.
Previous Members
Ravneet Kaur
Ravneet started her M.S. program in UGA griffin campus in 2020 Spring. She got her bachelor’s degree in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Punjab Agricultural University, India in 2019. Her research works comprised of studying drought performance in zoysiagrass species including some established cultivars like Empire, Meyer, Palisades, and experimental breeding lines from Tifton. She analyzed morpho-physiological differences in grass species to establish a correlation in their drought performance during extended dry down periods. Ravneet defended in 2022. She now works as a research associate at Living Carbon.
Krishna Katwal
Krishna started his PhD program at the University of Georgia Griffin Campus in 2017 summer. He is from Nepal. His BS is from TamilNadu Agriculture University, India, and MS from the Eastern New Mexico University, USA. Krishna’s research interests are turfgrass physiology, stress tolerance mechanisms, management practices and molecular biology. He graduated with a PhD degree in December 2021 from the University of Georgia and currently works as post-doctoral researcher at the Rutgers University.
Bo Xiao
Bo Xiao studied in the University of Georgia as a visiting scholar for six months in 2018. He is now working in College of Horticulture and Gardening, Yangtze University, Hubei province, China, with research focusing on effects of soil microbes on turfgrass.