Biology consulting services, I specialize in the development of plant disease and insect management systems. Creation of analysis notebooks and database applications. Extensive field experience conducting biology experiments in Neartic, Afrotropical and Neotropical biogeographic regions.
Contact me for a free initial consultation to see if I can assist with your agriculture production or biological research.
Biologica
My professional career in biology began in the late 1990’s when I worked on a large scale insect population analysis project. This research focused on geographical distribution of Lymantria dispar L. (spongy moth). My responsibilities included both field biology and computer science and I had the opportunity to work on the subsequent major versions that would go on the become the Integrated Plant Health Inspection System (IPHIS) which is currently used by plant quarantine agencies throughout the U.S. and Mexico.
Throughout the years I have had the opportunity to work on many different projects throughout the U.S, Central and South America, West Africa and SE Asia.
Plant Health Research
From 2008 until 2016 I worked with plant diseases and insect outbreaks with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. My personal research during this time focused on organic production of berries, vegetables and honey.
In addition to biological aspects, I also I developed software applications with ESRI based systems and managed large numbers of mobile data collections units. My team assisted with the design of scientific databases, performed QA testing of new features and hosted weekly meetings for both engineering and end user support teams. We performed regression testing of field data loggers and Linux desktop applications which increased the accuracy of research measurements.
This work also involved producing outreach materials and presentations for a variety of groups on topics related to plant health and insect biology.
Agroforestry Sénégal
In 2006-2007 I had the opportunity to work with the U.S. Peace Corps in Fungolimbi, Sénégal. I worked at the village level teaching technologies and techniques to increase the diversity and number of trees and vegetables planted with the goal to improve agriculture production and farm incomes. We created and designed community tree nurseries that were used for training and produced saplings for planting within remote villages.
I also assisted with the pruning and propagation of live fencing, introduced fast growing and drought resistant species. Worked with pilot farmers that were interested in planting large vegetable plots. Using local resources, we introduced techniques to increase the germination rates of desired vegetable species and the strength of seedlings for planting within family compounds.