PES Seminars

Current research discussions are presented by Graduate level students and NMSU faculty. Graduate Enrichment Seminar's are only held throughout Spring and Fall Semesters.

Date/Time: Fridays, 3:30 PM, Gerald Thomas Hall, Room 200, unless otherwise indicated.

Zoom Info: Click here for the PES Webinar Link.

Contact Info

Dr. Curtis Monger
Email: cmonger@nmsu.edu
Phone: 575-915-8289


Fall 2023

Seminars by date, speaker, title
Speaker Presentation Title
Sep. 1 - Colby Brungard, Associate Professor, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences and Extension Plant Sciences A digital soil map update for the Upper Rio Puerco Watershed, NM
Sep. 8 - Dr. Calvin Trostle, Professor & Extension Agronomist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Lessons learned in legume nodulation and nitrogen contribution research
Sep. 15 - Jude Odhambio, Fulbright Scholar and soil scientist, University of Venda, South Africa Soil fertility constraints faced by smallholder farmers in southern Africa and potential strategies to improve productivity
Sep. 22 - Robert Horton, Professor of Soil Physics, Iowa State University Mentoring Graduate Students to Help Them Grow Academically and Personally
Sep. 29 - Ibukunoluwa Fademi, Ph.D. Candidate Impacts of management practices on soil health and crop production in an irrigated arid agroecosystem
Oct. 6 - Prakirti Bista, Research Scientist, Agricultural Science Center at Clovis Measuring and modeling soil carbon, nitrogen, and water dynamics in semi-arid agroecosystems
Oct. 13 - Deb Raj Aryal, Research Scientist and visiting scholar, Autonomous University of Chiapas, Mexico Carbon sequestration in forests and agricultural lands: experiences from Mexico and New Mexico
Oct. 27 - McKenzie Stock, M.S. Candidate Surveying fungal biodiversity in pecan orchard soils of the Southwestern United States

Nov. 10 - Anthony Schaefer, M.S. Candidate



Claudia Galvan, M.S. Candidate

Linking Biological Soil Crust Cover and Composition to Structure and Function within Ecological Sites and States at the Jornada Experimental Range

In field in situ UV mutagenesis for Strain Improvement

Nov. 17 - Suman Sharma, Ph.D. Candidate



Anthony Schaefer, M.S. Candidate

Breeding for Fusarium Basal Rot Resistance in Onion (Allium cepa L.)

Linking Biological Soil Crust Cover and Composition to Structure and Function within Ecological Sites and States at the Jornada Experimental Range



Spring 2023

Seminars by date, speaker, title
Speaker Presentation Title
Feb. 3 - Dr. Bill Lindemann, Professor Emeritus, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences and Extension Plant Science When and how the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science Degree was developed.
Feb. 10 - Dylan Burrus, Ph.D. Candidate Environmental change modifies predator-prey interactions in shrub-encroached grasslands.
Feb. 17 - Ehtisham Khokhar, Ph.D. Candidate High-throughput characterization of fruit phenotypic diversity among New Mexican chile pepper (Capsicum spp.) using the tomato analyzer software.
Feb. 24 - Navdeep Kaur, M.S. Candidate

Genomic Breeding for Phytophthora resistance in Capsicum annuum.

Mar. 3 - Seth Burruss, M.S. Candidate Remote sensing of biological soil crust in the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem using a hyperspectral sensor on a UAS.
Mar. 10 - Stephanie Torres, M.S. Candidate Selection in onions for thrips non preference.  

Mar. 24 - Trevor Roberts, M.S. Candidate


Gurpreet Kaur Nagi, Ph. D. Candidate

Water-constrained thinning relationships at regional and global scales.

Wastewater bioremediation using microalgae.

Mar. 31 - Abid Nazir, Ph. D. Candidate Global ecosystem dynamics investigation (GEDI) product validation with field data in arid, semi-arid, and Himalayan regions.

Apr. 14 - Dikshya Sapkota, M.S. Candidate


Sumeet Sharma, M.S. Candidate

Jujube Germplasm in New Mexico and the Southwestern Corner of Texas.

Hydrological modeling using SWAT at lower Rio Grande watershed, New Mexico.

Apr. 21 - Bhimsen Shrestha, M.S. Candidate


Harjot Sidhu, M.S. Candidate

Effect of irrigation and nitrogen management on potato (S. tuberosum) growth, yield and quality and water use efficiency.

Effect of different irrigation and fertility on guar performance.

Apr. 28 - Skyler Roe, M.S. Candidate Post fire reforestation: nursery and post-planting management for pinus ponderosa seedlings.
May 5 - Pramod Acharya, Ph.D. Candidate Linking soil health with crop production and other ecosystem services.