Members

Dr. Chieri Kubota

 

Director – Ohio Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (OHCEAC)

Professor – Department of Horticulture and Crop Science (View her bio)

The Ohio State University

Email: kubota.10@osu.edu

Phone (office): (614) 292-3175

 

 

Current lab members:

Carly Becker, Program Coordinator

Carly Becker is the program coordinator for the Ohio Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (OHCEAC) at Ohio State University, reporting to OHCEAC Director Dr. Chieri Kubota. Carly works with the PI’s and consortium members of the Ohio Controlled Environment Agriculture Center working behind the scenes on OHCEAC events, outreach, communications, and on other administrative tasks.

 

Dr. Darren Xia, Postdoctoral Scholar

Darren’s research: I work on an interdisciplinary strawberry research project to produce high-quality, flavorful strawberry fruits under controlled environments. My research focuses on optimizing indoor environmental controls to improve strawberry flavors and productivity, while collaborating with plant genetics and food science teams.

 

Dr. Jason Hollick, Postdoctoral Scholar

Jason’s research: My research with the Kubota lab focuses on improving the productivity of greenhouse-grown high-wire tomato using grafting and autonomous environment control in controlled environment agriculture. I also work to better understand flower and fruit production in grafted seedless watermelon and develop ideal management strategies to improve early season yields.

 

Pooja Tripathi, PhD Graduate Student (HCS)

Pooja’s research: Strawberry propagation in the US is open-field based. With the increasing interest in indoor strawberry production, the availability of clean transplant materials is important. My research is focused on optimizing greenhouse propagation for year-round transplant production. This project is part of a much bigger collaborative project with several other universities and the industry, and I am very excited to be a part of it.

 

Katelyn Fulcher, MS Graduate Student (HCS)

Katelyn’s research: Strawberry fruit production in CEA systems in complicated by the lack of predictability in strawberry flush, making the optimization of production and timing of management practices difficult. This research aims to develop a predictive mathematical model for near-future strawberry yield in CEA systems using the information gained from flower mapping. Flower mapping is a method of describing plant architecture through meristem dissection, allowing for the distinguishment of the position and developmental stage of flower primordia. Katelyn’s research seeks to utilize this form of architectural analyses to optimize strawberry production through the use of predictive modeling.

 

 

 

Kubota lab alumni (OSU & UA)

Research Staffs

  • Brandon Jewell, Research Technician, UA
  • Charlotte Romo, Research Technician, UA
  • Cody Fasbinder, Research Technician, UA
  • Wanwiwat Lovichit, Research Technician, UA
  • Myles Lewis, Research Specialist, UA

Postdoctoral Research Associates

  • Dr. Yiyun Lin, OSU
  • Dr. Changhyeon Kim, OSU
  • Dr. Doug Hopper, OSU
  • Dr. Jamal Javanmardi, UA
  • Dr. Ryo Matsuda, UA
  • Dr. Ricardo Hernandez, UA

Graduate Students

  • John Ertle, PhD in Horticulture and Crop Science, OSU
  • Ian Rabinowitz, MS in Master in Plant Health Management, OSU
  • Jeffrey Bates, MS in Horticulture and Crop Science, OSU
  • Madeline Horvat, MS in Horticulture and Crop Science, OSU
  • Gio Papio, MS in Horticulture and Crop Science, OSU
  • John Ertle, MS in Horticulture and Crop Science, OSU
  • Tom McKean, MS in Horticulture and Crop Science, OSU
  • Dan Gillespie, MS in Horticulture and Crop Science, OSU
  • Johann Buck, MS in Plant Sciences, UA
  • Min Wu, PhD in Plant Sciences, UA
  • Wanwiwat Lovichit, MS in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, UA
  • Ian Justus, MS in Plant Sciences, UA
  • Polung Chia, MS in Plant Sciences, UA
  • Qian Li, PhD in Biology, Northwest A&F University, China, UA
  • Hans Spalholtz, MS in Plant Sciences, UA
  • Ricardo Hernandez, PhD in Plant Sciences, UA
  • Michael Whalen, MS in Plant Sciences, UA
  • Caitlyn Hall, MS in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, UA
  • Karla Garcia, MS in Plant Sciences, UA

Undergraduate Research Assistants

  • Lydia Krage, HCS, OSU
  • Haley Kruest, HCS, OSU
  • Keiya Satoh, Environmental Engineering, OSU
  • Sam Offenbecher, HCS, OSU
  • Jason Hollick, HCS, OSU
  • Mary MacLeod, HCS, OSU
  • Broderick Ball, FABE, OSU
  • Gio Papio, FABE, OSU
  • John Partee, HCS, OSU
  • Justin Clifford, FABE, OSU
  • Katherine Dietrich, Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, UA
  • Emily Seddon, Plant Sciences, UA
  • Emily Rockey, Plant Sciences, UA
  • Casey Lohrenz, Plant Sciences, UA
  • Brent Salazer, Plant Sciences, UA
  • Alex Dragotakes, International Program / Plant Sciences, UA
  • Diana Vercillo, Plant Sciences, UA
  • Amber Pantel, Plant Sciences, UA
  • Jose Pablo Santana, Agricultural and Resource Economics, UA
  • Alex Schaller, Sustainable Plant Systems, UA
  • Connor Everly, Plant Sciences, UA

Visiting Scholars

  • Dr. Zhen Chao Yang, Northwest A&F University, China
  • Dr. Murat Deveci, Namik Kemal University, Turkey
  • Tomomi Eguchi, Japan

Visiting Graduate Students

  • Hiromi Toida, Chiba University, Japan
  • Shingo Yokoi, Chiba University, Japan
  • Mariko Hayakumo, Chiba University, Japan
  • Leo Sabatino, Palermo University, Italy
  • Yuki Yoneda, Japan
  • Tomohiro Jishi, University of Tokyo, Japan
  • Kazuya Maeda, Chiba University, Japan