People

Ranveer Chandra is the Managing Director for Research for Industry, and the CTO of Agri-Food at Microsoft. He also leads the Networking Research Group at Microsoft Research, Redmond. Previously, Ranveer was the Chief Scientist of Microsoft Azure Global. His research has shipped as part of multiple Microsoft products, including VirtualWiFi in Windows 7 onwards, low power Wi-Fi in Windows 8, Energy Profiler in Visual Studio, Software Defined Batteries in Windows 10, and the Wireless Controller Protocol in XBOX One. His research also led to a new product, called Azure Data Manager for Agriculture. Ranveer is active in the networking and systems research community, and has served as the Program Committee Chair of IEEE DySPAN 2012, and ACM MobiCom 2013.

Ranveer has published more than 100 papers, and holds over 150 patents granted by the USPTO. His research has been cited by the popular press, such as the Economist, MIT Technology Review, BBC, Scientific American, New York Times, WSJ, among others. He is an IEEE Fellow and an ACM Fellow, and has won several awards, including best paper awards at ACM CoNext 2008, ACM SIGCOMM 2009, IEEE RTSS 2014, USENIX ATC 2015, Runtime Verification 2016 (RV’16), ACM COMPASS 2019, and ACM MobiCom 2019, the Microsoft Research Graduate Fellowship, the Microsoft Gold Star Award, the MIT Technology Review’s Top Innovators Under 35, TR35 (2010) and Fellow in Communications, World Technology Network (2012). He was recently recognized by the Newsweek magazine as America’s 50 most Disruptive Innovators (2021). Ranveer has an undergraduate degree from IIT Kharagpur, India and a PhD from Cornell University.

Chad Hart was born and raised in southwest Missouri and his parents raised a few cattle and operated a small meat locker.   Chad received a B.S. in economics with minors in mathematics, history, and astronomy from Southwest Missouri State University in 1991.  He moved to Iowa in the summer of 1991 to pursue graduate education and received a Ph.D. in economics and statistics in 1999 from Iowa State University. 

Upon graduation, Chad worked as a researcher at CARD at Iowa State.  Then he joined the faculty in 2008.  His main research areas are in agricultural marketing and risk management. 

Senior Agronomy Sales Enablement Advisor for JR Simplot Company

Jon was born and raised in the central valley of California where he grew up working on farms owned by family friends. After an enlistment in the Marine Corps, he attended school at Fresno State University where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in plant science with his graduate work focusing on phosphorus dynamics in calcareous soils that are common in the Western US. His areas of expertise revolve around soil-water-nutrient-plant relationships and how to best manage those variables to influence crop production. He also has a background in irrigation scheduling and management which comes in handy in California where most of the production acres are irrigated. He currently lives in Clovis, CA, in the central valley of California in the heart of some of the most productive ground in the world. He and his wife of 13 years, Juli, have 5 kids together so most of their time is spent on activities with them. They enjoy smoking meats and cooking together as well as camping at the beach and in the mountains. His family is heavily involved in their church and its youth group and in the foster/adoptive care community.

Jeff Tarsi is the Executive Vice President and President of Global Retail at Nutrien Ag Solutions. In this role, Jeff oversees the company’s global portfolio and strategic priorities focused on delivering to stakeholders across the world. With an emphasis on safety, he also works closely with regional leaders throughout the company’s Retail network, which includes more than 2,000 locations in Australia, Canada, South America, and the United States.

Prior to his current role, Jeff served as the Vice President of Retail International & Strategy, where he led the retail businesses in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Australia. Since joining a Nutrien legacy company in 1997, Jeff has held a variety of key leadership positions, including Senior Vice President of North American Operations for Nutrien Ag Solutions. With over three decades of experience in the agriculture industry, Jeff has gained a deep knowledge of retail operations. Raised on a farm in Mississippi, Jeff holds a degree in ag economics from Mississippi State University.

Josie Montoney-Crawford joined NASDA in December 2022. In her role she assists with the development and implementation of policy in the Plant Agriculture and Pesticides, Rural Development and Financial Security and Workforce Development areas. Before joining NASDA, Josie previously worked at CropLife America as a member of the government relations team on both federal and international pesticide issues and served as its PAC Manager. Josie earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural communication and public management, leadership and policy from The Ohio State University. Montoney-Crawford is from Amanda, Ohio, and enjoys photography and cheering on the Buckeyes in her free time.

Bryan G. Hopkins is a Professor at Brigham Young University where he teaches and does research in soil, nutrient, and water management. He is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist. He is a Fellow of the America Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. He is the Chief Consulting Agronomist for Sci-Scapes, Inc. His wife, Carrie, and he have 6 children and 10 grandchildren.

Dante Leventini is a recent MS graduate from UC Davis Plant Sciences. Working in Patrick H. Brown’s lab, Dante’s research used split-root solution culture of tomato to survey how potassium modulates water and nutrient uptake under nonuniform salinity.

Pedro Andrade-Sanchez is an Associate Professor – Specialist in Precision Agriculture at The University of Arizona. He is affiliated with the Department of Biosystems Engineering and is stationed at The Maricopa Agricultural Center. Dr. Andrade-Sanchez earned his Ph.D in agricultural engineering from the University of California Davis in 2004 where his research focused on soil dynamics applied to tillage and sub-soil compaction. In 2006 he worked at the Center for Precision Agricultural Systems at Washington State University where he performed research in wireless sensor networks with applications to agriculture. Currently, Pedro leads an innovative research and extension program in precision agriculture focused on the implementation of information-intensive solutions engineered to increase efficiencies in crop production in farming systems of semi-arid lands. Dr. Andrade-Sanchez has performed extensive work in machine navigation systems, yield monitoring, variable-rate input application, electronic monitoring of ambient conditions, sensor-based characterization of crop development in various crops in Arizona. Other emphasis areas in his program include precision planting, on-the-go sensor-based weed detection, and soil respiration monitoring using low-cost electronics. Dr. Andrade-Sanchez has co-authored 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, 12 peer-reviewed extension bulletins; three book chapters.

Dr. Katie Lewis received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Soil Science from Texas A&M University in 2010 and 2014 after completing her B.S. in Chemistry from Sam Houston State University in 2008. She joined the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas Tech University faculty in September 2014. As an Associate Professor of Soil Chemistry and Fertility, Dr. Lewis is provided the opportunity through research, service, and teaching to enhance the agricultural sustainability of the Texas High Plains which is vitally essential to both Texas and the nation. The major focus areas of Dr. Lewis’ program include: 1) determining sustainable regenerative management practices in semi-arid ecoregions; 2) optimizing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium management in cotton; and 3) evaluating alternative practices and products (e.g. fertilizer formulations and soil amendments). She is determined to optimize management strategies for cotton producers across the Texas High Plains and the Cotton Belt of the United States to ensure the longevity of their farming operations while conserving our soil and water resources. Dr. Lewis currently serves as the Chair of the Land Management & Conservation Section (ASA) and has chaired the Cover Crop Management Community. She has been the chair of the Great Plains Soil Fertility Planning Board since 2020. She has authored or co-authored 46 peer-reviewed articles and two book chapters. Dr. Lewis’ program has received $5.6 million in federal, state, and local funds ($36.2 million to all project investigators). She has mentored to completion eight M.S. students and six Ph.D. students. She is an associate editor of the Agrosystems, Geosciences, and Environment Journal and the Agronomy Journal.

She is married to her wonderful husband, Clay, and has two beautiful children, Kadence and Cade.

Dr. William “Hunter” Frame is a Virginia native and graduate of Virginia Tech (B.S. and Ph. D.) as well as the University of Tennessee Knoxville (M.S.). He major in Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences and Plant Sciences with his advanced degrees focused on nitrogen fertilizer management in winter wheat, corn and burley tobacco systems. He has been a faculty member at Virginia Tech since May 2012 as the Field Crop Agronomist where his program focuses on agronomic issues in cotton production and enhanced efficiency nitrogen fertilizer management in non-legume field crops. Currently he is serving as the project director on the TFI 4R funded grant ($874,980): An integrated approach for nitrogen management in Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) across the U.S. Cotton Belt from 2019 – 2024. When not running his research and Extension program Dr. Frame enjoys watching his daughter on the softball field and bow hunting whitetail deer.