Lead Investigators
Dr. Carmen Ugarte & Dr. Michelle Wander
Carmen is motivated to understand how agricultural management practices influence land stewardship. For this, she works at various scales investigating the influence of management practices on soil function seen through the lenses of biological, physical, and chemical indicators. She has a keen interest in investigating soil fauna and their contributions to ecosystem services. She, ultimately, aims to use her research outputs to support the adoption of stewardship practices and the development of sound policies for the agricultural sector.
Michelle is interested in agroecology, agricultural sustainability, soil conservation, and alternative soil testing methods. She is the Director of the Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture Program. She studies the influence of management on soil organic matter and system performance with emphasis on nutrient cycling, plant-soil relations, and physical protection of organic matter. Michelle became Professor Emerita in July of 2024.
For more information about our backgrounds, please follow the links to our websites.
Current Graduate Students
Sofia Gonzalez
Sofia is an MS student from Panama. Sofia received her BS degree from Zamorano University in Honduras in 2022 with a concentration in Environment and Development. In 2023, Sofia worked as a visiting scholar in the Soil Ecology Lab and gained experience in laboratory procedures, data processing, and field-related activities. She is now pursuing a Master’s degree and her thesis focuses on the study of corn root traits and their interactions with the soil environment that contribute to water use efficiency. She is also interested in understanding the influence of organic management practices on soil moisture dynamics.
Kimberly Araya Guzman
Kimberly is originally from Costa Rica. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Geography, with an emphasis in Land Planning, from the National University of Costa Rica. After working for 6 years in the private industry, she decided to apply to graduate school. For her MS work at the University of Puerto Rico, she evaluated soil fertility metrics as a tool to improve phosphorus fertility recommendations for tropical pastures. Kimberly’s Ph.D. research will focus on modeling efforts to estimate greenhouse gases in organic farming systems in Illinois. Kimberly wants to use diverse tools including AI and machine learning methods to develop more accurate nitrogen budgets for organic grain systems.
Veronica Vargas
Veronica is a student in the NRES MS program and a Fulbright scholar from Paraguay. Veronica received her BS degree in Human Ecology Engineering in 2021 from the Universidad Nacional de Asunción (UNA), School of Agricultural Sciences. She has experience working on the characterization of livestock production operations in Paraguay and has worked as a technical project coordinator on projects related to organic agriculture. Her current interest remains focused on understanding how farmers adapt their management practices as they seek to find a balance between productive and environmental goals.
Ebony Rankin
Ebony is a recent graduate of UIUC, and a native Illinoisan. Ebony received her BS degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences with a concentration in Environmental Science and Management, as well as a minor in Spanish and is an iSEE Fellow. Ebony began working in the Soil Ecology Lab during the summer of 2024 and starting in the fall 2025 has been enrolled in the NRES MS program. Ebony is interested in biogeochemical cycles in agricultural systems. Her primary interests focus on understanding nutrient balances in organic grain production systems. She is also interested in understanding management practices that help reduce or mitigate the export of nutrients to freshwater systems.
Carlos Murillo
Carlos is a researcher originally from Honduras. Carlos received his BS degree from Zamorano University with a major in Environmental Engineering. He has experience managing research projects in field and laboratory settings. Carlos has been collaborating with researchers in the Soil Ecology Lab on the evaluation of plant-soil interactions in organic farming systems and evaluating the influence of organic management on soil organic matter metrics. Carlos started pursing an MS degree in the Fall 2025. His research will focus on undertanding the relationship between agroecosystem performance (agronomic and environmental) and soil organic matter.
Lab Alumni
Graduate Students and Postdocs
Daniela Pope, MS (2022-2024)
Mario Nunez, MS and Visiting Scholar (2018-2024)
Binod Ghimire, Ph.D. (2018-2024)
Xinyi Tu, Posdoc (2021-2022)
Peter Obour, Postdoc (2019-2020)
Undergrads (within the past 3 years)
Krista Guerrero Flores, BS (2024)
Claire Sullivan, BS (2023-2024)
Soumil Biswas (2023-2024)
Aaron Ivsin, BS (2023)
Katherine Castaneda, BS (2023)
Atong Akom, BS (2023)
Maura O’Grady, BS (2019-2023)
Natacha De Gracia, BS (2022)
David Barrientos, BS (2022)