Peters Egbedi is an assistant professor and a sustainable cropping systems and field management specialist at the Red River Research Station. He was born in Oleh, Delta State, Nigeria, and grew up on a family farm. At an early age, his quest to address crop yield declines on the farm led him to obtain a bachelor’s degree in agriculture at the University of Ibadan. He also earned a master’s degree in environment, health and safety from the University of Sunderland and a doctorate in agronomy from LSU. He conducted his postdoctoral research at the Northeast and Red River research stations. Passionate about extending the frontiers of knowledge in agriculture and the noble aim of achieving food security, his research focus is not only on developing sustainable cropping systems and other best management practices that can improve soil health and crop yield, but also on building resilience of the farming systems to climate change as well as ensuring long-term sustainability.

Dawson Kerns is an assistant professor in field crop entomology in the LSU AgCenter northeast region. Kerns earned a Bachelor of Science in entomology from Texas A&M University and a Master of Science and a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee. He investigated the molecular mechanisms involved in resistance to Bt crops in bollworm populations and used bioinformatic tools to identify potential resistance genes in bollworm. His work at the AgCenter will involve the improvement and implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) practices for insect pests of corn, cotton, soybean and sorghum, and the evaluation of IPM strategies and insecticide efficacy, as well as monitoring insecticide resistance in field populations of crops pests. His program goal is to provide solutions to the problems facing producers and agricultural professionals in Louisiana. Originally from west Texas, Kerns said he always had an interest in insects, and cotton was a huge part of his community. His time in FFA sparked his desire to contribute to the advancement of agriculture in my community.

Shelly Pate Kerns joins the LSU AgCenter as an assistant professor and the corn, cotton and grain sorghum specialist. Kerns is originally from west Tennessee and earned a Bachelor of Science in crop and soil management from the University of Tennessee at Martin. She said her passion for agriculture developed after becoming involved with her local high school FFA chapter (Obion County Central FFA) and through 4-H activities. Kerns earned both a Master of Science and Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of Tennessee. During her time as a graduate student, Kerns’ research was focused on fungal and nematode pathogens of field crops, specifically cotton and soybean. She is now in charge of coordinating the statewide cotton, corn and grain sorghum official variety and hybrid trials. She also works closely with extension agents to plant on-farm variety and hybrid demonstrations with growers throughout the state. Kerns hopes to expand her program to include the creation of extension education initiatives, centered around research that is directly impactful to Louisiana farmers. Additionally, being based in Scott in the northeast region of Louisiana, Kerns hopes to build a great working relationship with the local community to educate the youth and citizens within the region about the importance of agriculture.

Prashant Jha joins the LSU AgCenter School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences as a professor of weed science. Jha earned his Ph.D. in weed science from Clemson University. He was previously at Montana State University working in dryland small grain and irrigated sugar beet-based cropping systems and at Iowa State University as a statewide extension weed specialist. He led the statewide weed extension and herbicide evaluation program in Iowa corn and soybean before joining the LSU AgCenter. His research at the AgCenter is focused on developing precision integrated weed management strategies. His program is screening newly evolved herbicide-resistant weeds in Louisiana soybean, cotton, rice and other crops. As part of his program in precision agriculture, he works on automated weed and crop detection, identification and mapping of herbicide-resistant weeds using ground-based and UAV platforms, with the goal to facilitate machine-learning/AI applications for precision weed control.