Project Team
Michael D. Dukes, Ph.D., P.E.
Dr. Dukes holds degrees in Agricultural Engineering and Civil & Environmental Engineering specializing in water management and water quality of biological systems. He leads a research team investigating water conservation and water quality of urban and vegetable irrigated systems and well as low impact development methods to prevent stormwater runoff. He can be reached at mddukes@ufl.edu.
Consuelo Romero, Ph.D. - Assistant In Research Scientist
Dr. Romero is a Post-Doctoral Researcher whose specific areas of expertise are irrigation modeling, soil fertility, soil erosion, and water conservation. She holds degrees in Biology, Soil Science, specializing in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation. She can be reached at ccromero@ufl.edu.
Bernard Cardenas-Lailhacar - Research Associate
Bernard Cardenas-Lailhacar holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, with a minor in Environmental Horticulture. His research is focused in water conservation, analyzing which of the state-of-the-art irrigation technologies are the most suitable for Florida conditions. He can be reached at bernardc@ufl.edu
Graduate Research Assistants
PhD
Melissa Baum Haley
Melissa was awarded her B.S. and M.E. degrees from the University of Florida in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, focusing on land and water resources. Her Masters work analyzed effects of irrigation efficiency on water-use in Florida’s St. Johns River Water Management District. She is currently a doctoral student in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department studying the interaction between the technical and social aspects of residential irrigation water-use conservation. With the Southwest Florida Water Management District, she has been working on project in efforts to reduce residential irrigation water application by incorporating sensor based controllers and educational materials. She is also working with the District's Communications Department to quantify water conservation practices and perceptions through homeowner survey research, and effective behavioral change at household level interaction. She can be reached at mbhaley@ufl.edu.
Mackenzie Boyer, PE
Mackenzie graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a MS in Environmental Engineering. She has worked for Black & Veatch and CH2M HILL as a consulting engineer specializing in municipal water and wastewater treatment design. Her research focuses on landscape irrigation water use in southwest Florida. Mackenzie is a registered professional engineer in Florida and North Carolina and LEED Accredited Professional. She can be reached at mjboyer@ufl.edu.
Stacia Davis
Stacia L. Davis graduated from the University of Florida with an M.E. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering in 2008 and from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2005. She continues her graduate education by pursuing a PhD degree, also from the University of Florida Agricultural and Biological Engineering department, that concentrates on residential outdoor water conservation. Her current projects focus on the evaluation and implementation of smart controllers that use ET for scheduling irrigation. She can be reached at stacia@ufl.edu.
Thomas Olmsted
Tom Olmsted graduated from Michigan State University with a Masters Degree in Agricultural Technology and Systems Management. His Masters research consisted of evaluating daily evapotranspiration estimation methods. Tom served with the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa and was later Research Equipment Manager for the DEKALB Genetics Corporation. His PhD research is looking at different irrigation strategies and the use of commercially available soil moisture sensors for the purpose of reducing irrigation water use on landscapes. He can be reached at olmsted@ufl.edu.
Maria Isabel Zamora Re
Maria graduated from EARTH University in Costa Rica with a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering. During that time, she participated in a student exchange program at the University of Florida where she worked with irrigation control using soil moisture sensors in turfgrass. Since graduation in Fall 2008, she has gained experience by filling multiple positions at various golf courses throughout Costa Rica. She is now working on multiple projects including distribution uniformity and frost protection of strawberries, and the University of Florida SWAT testing of rain sensors for the Irrigation Association. She can be reached at mzamora@ufl.edu.
Collaborators
Jason K. Kruse - Environmental Horticulture Department
Linda J. Young - Department of Statistics
Lincoln Zotarelli - Horticultural Sciences Department
