COURSES
My normal schedule of teaching courses is as follows:
PSS 6301. Quantitative Agricultural Remote Sensing. A general course in the theory and application of remote sensing to quantifying soil and vegetation characteristics, with emphasis on agriculture but also relevant to natural biosystems. (3 credit hours, 3 hours lecture per week, no lab). No prerequisites. No textbook. In the fall of 2001, 20 students took this course. In the fall of 2003, 6 students took this course. In the fall of 2006, 5 students took this course.
Starting in 2007, this course will be taught in the spring of odd years.
Recent Syllabus
PSS 6302. Plant Growth Modeling. A general course in the theory, development, validation, and application of mathematical models of plant growth, with emphasis on agricultural crops but relevant to most green plant biosystems. Prerequisites: PSS 3323 or equivalent, or approval of instructor. (3 credit hours, 3 hours lecture per week, no lab). No textbook. In the fall of 2002, 8 students took this course.
The best way to learn how to model plant growth is to do it. Thus, each student in this course will have a class project-- to develop a simple plant growth simulation model over the duration of the course. Everyone will use a common programming language. Writing computer programs in this language will be covered in the first 2 weeks of the course. For those students with prior programming experience, this may be a refresher. For those students without prior experience in programming, they will come out of this course with basic computer programming skills.
Recent Syllabus
PSS 5323. Environmental Crop Physiology. The plant-environment interaction in relation to growth and production of crop communities. Radiant energy, carbon dioxide, water, and temperature relationships in crop stands (3 credit hours, 3 hours lecture per week, no lab). No prerequisites. Textbook: To be determined. In the spring of 2001, 11 students took this course. In the spring of 2003, 9 students took this course.
Starting in 2007, this course will be taught in the fall of odd years.
Recent Syllabus
PSS 5329. Precision Agriculture. A general course in the theory, development, and application of site-specific management strategies for crops, with emphasis on the collection, analysis, and use of geospatial information in performing variable-rate farming practices (3 credit hours). Topics will include: Global Positioning System (GPS), Yield Mapping, Soil Electrical Conductivity (EC) Mapping, Soil Sampling and Spatial Analysis, Remote Sensing, On-farm Geographic Information System (GIS), and Variable-rate Prescriptions. A hands-on approach will be used in the teaching of this course. The course will be taught by myself and several other professors in the Department. No prerequisites, no textbook. During the summer of 2003, 5 students took this course.
Recent Syllabus
PSS 5351. Environmental Instrumentation and Measurements. This three-hour course will introduce the student to the use of the data logger in collecting environmental measurements related to soil, atmosphere, and plant conditions. The student will learn how to program the data logger to collect data using a variety of instruments, including thermocouples, time-domain reflectometers, stem flow gages, infrared thermometers, anemometers, and solar radiation sensors. Included will be discussions of the theory of instrument design, instrument calibration, and methods of data analysis. The course will consist of one hour of lecture and four hours of lab per week. It will be offered each spring semester, and class size will be limited to insure each student's access to a full complement of equipment. No prerequisites, no textbook. In the spring of 2006, 6 students took the inaugural version of this course.
Students hard at work programming their Campbell Scientific dataloggers (Feb. 2006).
Recent Syllabus
GRADUATE STUDENTS
- Jamey Len Duesterhaus
Jamey received his M.S. in Crop Science in August 2002.
- He recently received a Ph.D. from Kansas State University.
- B.S.: Texas Tech (2000)
- Hometown: Pep, Texas
- Advisory Committee:
- Steve Maas, Ph.D., PSS (Chair)
- Dan Krieg, Ph.D., PSS
- Robert Lascano, Ph.D., PSS
- Don Wanjura, Ph.D., PSS (Adjunct)
- Tim Doggett, Ph.D., ATMO
- JongHan Ko
Jonghan received his Ph.D. in Agronomy in August 2004.
- He is now a Post-doctoral research assistant with USDA-ARS in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
- B.Agric.: Kangwon National University, S. Korea (1993)
- M.Agric.: Kangwon National University, S. Korea (1998)
- Home Country: South Korea (ROK)
- Advisory Committee:
- Steve Maas, Ph.D., PSS (Chair)
- Robert Lascano, Ph.D., PSS
- Don Wanjura, Ph.D., PSS (Adjunct)
- Susan Mengel, Ph.D., CS
- Vernon Lansford, Ph.D., AAE
- Wenxuan Guo
Wexuan received his Ph.D. in Agronomy in December 2005.
- He is now the GIS Specialist for South Plains Precision Agriculture, Inc., of Plainview, Texas.
- B.S.: Hebei Agricultural University, China (1996)
- M.S.: West Texas A&M University (2002)
- Home Country: China (PRC)
- Advisory Committee:
- Steve Maas, Ph.D., PSS (Chair)
- Rick Zartman, Ph.D., PSS
- Kevin Bronson, Ph.D., PSS (Adjunct)
- Eduardo Segarra, Ph.D., AAEC
- Seiichi Nagihara, Ph.D., GEOS
- Sepalika Gunaratne (Rajapakse)
Sepalika received her Ph.D. in Agronomy in August 2005.
- She now works in the Department of City Planning for Los Angeles, California.
- B.S.: University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka (1990)
- M.S.: Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand (2000)
- Home Country: Sri Lanka
- Advisory Committee:
- Steve Maas, Ph.D., PSS (Chair)
- Robert Lascano, Ph.D., PSS
- Dan Upchurch, Ph.D., PSS (Adjunct)
- W. Dayawansa, Ph.D., Math
- Susan Mengel, Ph.D., CS
- Nithya Rajan
Nithya received her Ph.D. in Agronomy in December 2007.
- She is now a Post-doctotal Research Assistant with Texas Tech University at Lubbock, Texas.
- B.S.: Kerala Agricultural University, India (2001)
- M.S.: A.N.G.R. Agricultural University, India (2004)
- Home Country: India
- Advisory Committee:
- Steve Maas, Ph.D., PSS (Chair)
- Vivien Allen, Ph.D., PSS
- Steve Mauget, Ph.D., PSS (Adjunct)
- Seiichi Nagihara, Ph.D., GEOS
- Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, Ph.D., Math
- Jessica Torrion
Jessica received her Ph.D. in Agronomy in December 2008.
- She is now a Post-doctoral Research Assistant with the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
- B.S.: Visayas State College of Agriculture (VISCA), Philippines (1996)
- M.S.: Int. Institute for Geoinformation Science & Earth Observation, ITC, The Netherlands (2002)
- Home Country: Philippines
- Advisory Committee:
- Steve Maas, Ph.D., PSS (Chair)
- Rick Zartman, Ph.D., PSS
- James Mahan, Ph.D., PSS (Adjunct)
- David Doerfert, Ph.D., ACOM
- David Leverington, Ph.D., GEOS
- Steven Brosch
Steven received his M.S. in Crop Science in May 2008.
- He runs his own farming operation outside of Slaton, Texas.
- Department of Plant and Soil Science
- B.S.: Texas Tech (2005)
- Hometown: Slaton, Texas
- Advisory Committee:
- Steve Maas, Ph.D., PSS (Chair)
- Bobbie McMichael, Ph.D., PSS (Adjunct)
- Jeff Johnson, Ph.D., AAEC
- Shyam Sivankutty Nair
Ph.D. Candidate
- Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
- B.S.: Kerala Agricultural University, India (1998)
- M.S.: Kerala Agricultural University, India (2001)
- Home Country: India
- Advisory Committee:
- Steve Maas, Ph.D., PSS
- Farrah Melissa Muharam
Ph.D. Candidate
- Department of Plant & Soil Science
- B.S.: University Technology Malaysia, Malaysia (2003)
- M.S.: University College London, United Kingdom (2005)
- Home Country: Malaysia
- Advisory Committee:
- Steve Maas, Ph.D., PSS (Chair)
Texas Tech 2005-2006 Academic Calendar
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