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My Background
Undergraduate
Postgraduate
PhD program
Postdoctoral career
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I started a PhD program at Ohio State University in 1989, where I worked under Clive Edwards in the Department of Entomology. Ben Stinner, any early pioneer in agroecosystem ecology was on my committee, and John Blair, currently professor at Kansas State University, was the postdoc working in our lab. Under John's leadership, the lab received a major NSF grant to examine the influence of earthworms and different fertilizer inputs on nutrient cycling in agro-ecosystems.  My doctoral research focused on the influence of earthworms on carbon and nitrogen cycling, including their influence on available nutrients in system fertilized with inorganic and organic fertilizers, and their role in decomposition of crop residues. That project started my long and illustrious career working with earthworms. I received my PhD in 1994.