Our Team

Directors of the CEA Innovation Center

Scott Lowman, Ph.D.

Co-Director, Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center Vice President, Applied Research, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Scott Lowman, Ph.D.

Co-Director, Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center Vice President, Applied Research, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Dr. Scott Lowman is the Vice President of Applied Research at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) in Danville, Virginia. Prior to joining IALR, Dr. Lowman co-founded Lynchburg Grows, a 7-acre urban farm and job training facility in Lynchburg, Virginia. In his current position, he leads a research program focused on integrating biological solutions and technology into agriculture while also supporting industry and producers by providing testing services for new and existing industries.

Phone:434-766-6628
Email:Scott.Lowman@ialr.org

Michael Schwarz, Ph.D.

Associate Director, Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center Director, Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech

Michael Schwarz, Ph.D.

Associate Director, Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center Director, Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech

Dr. Michael Schwarz is Director of the Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Associate Director of the Virginia Tech Center for Coastal Studies, and Associate Director for the Controlled Environmental Agriculture Innovation Center, among other leadership roles. Dr. Schwarz has gubernatorial appointments in both the Virginia Marine Products Board, as well as the Virginia Aquaculture Advisory Board. His aquaculture activities work towards sustainable socioeconomic and environmental aquaculture development within geopolitical contexts.

Phone:757-727-4861
Email:mschwarz@vt.edu

Michael Evans, Ph.D.

Co-Director, Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center Professor, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Michael Evans, Ph.D.

Co-Director, Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center Professor, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Dr. Michael Evans is a Professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech and the Co-Director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center. He specializes in the production of greens, herbs, strawberries and micro-tomatoes in controlled environments such as greenhouses and indoor vertical farms. Dr. Evans’ research is focused on techniques to maximize economic returns by reducing cropping time and maximizing yields as well as on pest management.

Phone:540-231-8653
Email:mrevans1@vt.edu

Kaylee South, Ph.D.

Associate Director of Research, Industry, and Educational Programs; Assistant Professor, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Kaylee South, Ph.D.

Associate Director of Research, Industry, and Educational Programs; Assistant Professor, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Dr. Kaylee South is a horticulturist and an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist for Controlled Environment Agriculture from Virginia Tech’s School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, She is based in Danville at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR). Her research is on the improvement of edible and medicinal crop performance in indoor vertical farms and greenhouses and specializes in the use of biostimulants and biocontrol agents to improve overall crop health and quality. Dr. South collaborates with the Virginia-controlled environment agriculture industry to identify and solve problems, as well as share research-based information through various avenues. She trains undergraduate, M.S., and Ph.D. students.

Phone:706-491-9315
Email:kasouth@vt.edu

VT and IALR Team Leads

Chuansheng Mei, Ph.D.

Chief Scientist, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Chuansheng Mei, Ph.D.

Chief Scientist, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Dr. Chuansheng Mei joined IALR in 2007 and was promoted to Chief Scientist in Plant Endophyte Research Center in 2019. Mei has been working on beneficial bacterial endophytes for more than 15 years.

Phone:434.766.6704
Email:Chuansheng.Mei@ialr.org

Sajeewa Amaradasa, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Sajeewa Amaradasa, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Dr. Sajeewa Amaradasa joined IALR in 2018 as a plant pathologist. His research is focused on investigating beneficial plant bacterial endophytes to control economically important diseases of crops. Dr. Amaradasa’s work involves collecting crop-specific fungal plant pathogens important in Southern Virginia and screening them against IALR’s bacterial endophyte library to search for potential biocontrol agents. He is looking for endophytes that can either inhibit diseases or reduce the impact of fungal pathogens and promote plant growth and yield. Potential endophytes resulting from preliminary laboratory tests are taken to greenhouse and field trials. Dr. Amaradasa is also interested in controlling diseases in hydroponically grown crops. Currently he is conducting research to control Pythium and Fusarium wilt in hydroponic lettuce and spinach using biocontrol endophytes. Utilizing beneficial endophytes could lead to more sustainable agricultural systems with reduced use of pesticides and other inputs. Amaradasa earned his Ph.D. in phytopathology from Virginia Tech and has published his research work in several peer-reviewed journals.

Phone:434.766.6635
Email:Sajeewa.Amaradasa@ialr.org

Research Associates and Technicians

Amy Turner

Laboratory Research Associate, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Amy Turner

Laboratory Research Associate, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Amy Turner has over 25 years of experience in the field of agriculture research. Turner has focused full time on assisting with expanding and building IALR’s endophyte library, as well as testing those microbes identified as beneficial to plant growth. Her areas of work have included acquisition of plant material for isolation of plant endophytic bacteria, assisting with IALR’s endophytic bacteria screening process and evaluation of microbes selected for testing in the greenhouse, growth chamber and controlled environment agriculture systems. As part of the CEA Innovation Center team, she incorporates hydroponics into the services offered to outside parties seeking to test biocontrol products.

Phone:434-766-6788
Email:Amy.Turner@ialr.org

Robert Chretien

Laboratory Research Associate, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Robert Chretien

Laboratory Research Associate, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Robert L. Chretien joined IALR in 2014. Chretien has a master’s degree in plant biology with an emphasis in biotechnology. He supports the bacterial endophyte project by conducting various assays to characterize the growth promoting potential of the bacteria in the library. He then tests promising bacteria for growth promotion in vitro, in the greenhouse and in hydroponic systems in controlled environment agriculture.

Phone:434.766.6643
Email:Robert.Chretien@ialr.org

Mitchell Doss

Research Technician, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Tiffany Barnhardt

Research Technician - Canon VA Inc Collaborative Project

VT Graduate and Undergraduate Students

Praveen Gajula

PhD Student Virginia Tech Location: Blacksburg Supervisor: Dr. Kaylee South

Praveen Gajula

PhD Student Virginia Tech Location: Blacksburg Supervisor: Dr. Kaylee South

Praveen is a PhD student currently working in Dr. South’s lab. My research is focused on exploring beneficial microbes and their benefits in controlled environment agriculture (CEA). Additionally, I also work on pathogen management in CEA. Currently, I am working on management of gray mold in strawberry by applying biologically developed fungicides (RNAi).

Phone:434-766-6618
Email:pg94@vt.edu

Brandan A. Shur

PhD Student Virginia Tech Location: Blacksburg Supervisor: Dr. Michael Evans

Brandan A. Shur

PhD Student Virginia Tech Location: Blacksburg Supervisor: Dr. Michael Evans

Brandan is a PhD student in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech working with Dr. Mike Evans. His research focuses on using manipulation techniques to enhance fruit quality and flavor while maintaining yield in hydroponically grown micro-dwarf tomatoes. Brandan received his BS and MS at North Carolina State University working in the Horticultural Substrates Lab researching the characterization and optimization of soilless substrates for strawberry and blueberry production.

Email:bashur@vt.edu

Colin P. Fite

MS Student Virginia Tech Location: Blacksburg Supervisor: Dr. Kaylee South

Colin P. Fite

MS Student Virginia Tech Location: Blacksburg Supervisor: Dr. Kaylee South

Colin is a Master’s student at the School of Plant and Environmental Science at Virginia Tech. He’ll be conducting his research at the CEA Innovation Center at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research under Dr. Kaylee South. His current interest is CEA facilitated growth and improvement of edible crops and hemp. Colin completed a dual degree BS program in chemistry and biochemistry at East Carolina University.

Email:Colinfite@vt.edu

Ellie Gregorio

VT MS Student; Blacksburg Location; Supervisor: Dr. Michael Evans

Partners

John Bovay, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Kohl Junior Faculty Fellow: Dept of Agricultural and Applied Economics. Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

John Bovay, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Kohl Junior Faculty Fellow: Dept of Agricultural and Applied Economics. Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Phone:540-231-7936
Email:bovay@vt.edu

Yun Yin, Ph.D

Assistant Professor; Food Science & Technology at Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Yun Yin, Ph.D

Assistant Professor; Food Science & Technology at Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Phone:540-231-2029
Email:yunyin@vt.edu

Past Team Members

Jacob Haymore

Former Undergraduate Technician - South Lab; Location: Danville; Supervisor: Dr. Kaylee South

Ekene Tharpe

Past Graduate Student – M.S. Supervisor: Dr. Michael Evans; Current Position: Head Grower at Babylon Micro-Farms

Alexander Yurista

Student; Blacksburg Location; Supervisor: Dr. Michael Evans