Dr. Jaya R. Soneji
Dr. Soneji worked as an Ag. Senior Research Scientist in Dr. Randall’s lab. She has worked extensively in the field of plant breeding, tissue culture, and genetic engineering of economically important fruit, tree and ornamental crops. She also has experience and research interests in plant propagation, germplasm evaluation, marker-assisted selection, functional genomics, virus–based vectors, and host-pathogen interactions. Jaya is now working for a biotech company in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dr. Rio Stamler
Rio worked as a post-doctoral associate in the Randall Lab. His research focused on plant pathology, including molecular identification and characterization of new and emerging pathogens, and evaluation of novel beneficial microbes for use in crop systems. Rio received his BS and MS in Agricultural Biology and completed a PhD in Molecular Biology in May 2014 under Dr. Jennifer Randall. Rio is now working for a biotech company.
Dr. Jorge Angeles
Jorge completed his PhD in 2011. He completed two post-doc fellowships in San Francisco and is currently working at the Philippine Islands Genomic Institute.
Deborah Sowder
Deb graduated from NMSU with her B.S. in Horticulture in May of 2016 and worked in the Randall Lab from 2014 to 2017. During her time in the lab, she worked on pecan fertilization and micropropagation, as well as projects on the pecan microbiome and the unique responses of different genotypes to fertilization. Deb is currently a graduate student at Colorado State University and studies drought-tolerant vegetable cultivars.
Esteban Molina
Esteban is currently a student at NMSU from Los Lunas, New Mexico. In May 2016, he completed his bachelor’s degree in agricultural biology, and in June 2018, he graduated with his master’s degree in plant pathology. Esteban started working in the lab the summer of 2014.
Hijiri Yamagata
Hijiri Yamagata is a visiting student from the University of Tokyo. He is a student of the department of civil engineering of the graduate school of engineering at the University of Tokyo. He graduated from Shibaura Institute of Technology in May of 2016 with his Bachelors of Civil Engineering. After graduation, he is studying Remote Sensing with UAV at Dr. Oki’s lab at the University of Tokyo. In April 2017, he joined Dr. Randall’s lab to observe Pecan orchards.
Adriana Rascon
Adriana completed her MS in 2014. She currently works for NMDA in Albuquerque, NM.
Silvanna Franscetti
Silvana completed her B.S. in December 2013. She is currently at Harvard Medical School.
Miranda Valverde-Butler
Miranda is completing her B.S. in Fish and Wildlife. She worked in the Randall Lab for 3.5 years and now works with the US Forestry Service.
Jose Herrera
Jose completed his B.S. in December of 2013. He is currently a private business owner.
Jason French
Jason completed his M.S. in 2010. He is currently running the Plant Diagnostic clinic at NMSU and is pursuing a PhD.
Griselda A. Saucedo
Griselda completed her B.S in Mechanical Engineering. She worked in the Randall Lab for 3 years; currently she is working as an engineer.
Jordan Martin
Jordan is a senior undergraduate student studying horticulture. She currently works with pecan flowering gene expression, but has also completed an internship in droplet-based microfluidics at the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University, as well as a short internship in bioinformatics at the National Center for Genome Resources. She has a particular passion for trees and using molecular biology for conservation. Jordan is hoping to pursue her Master’s Degree in Belgium after she graduates in 2018.
Lucio Sanchez
After joining the ASSURED program in the summer of 2011, Lucio found that working with plant pathogens as well as plants was something he greatly enjoyed. He contributed to multiple projects where he was able to do research and find new species of phytophthora in New Mexico.
Jeanette Castañon
Jeanette is currently entering her senior year at NMSU and studying Agricultural Biology with a focus in Environmental Biology. She began work in the lab greenhouse in September of 2016, where she gained much experience with greenhouse management of pecans. She has hopes of using her degree and the experience she is currently earned in the lab to make a change for the better in our environment. She has interests in research and outreach and plans to pursue a Master’s Degree after her time at NMSU.