Project LAMP brings together a large team of scientists, engineers, extension agents and industry representatives from around the United States. Areas of expertise include agricultural economics, energy informatics, electrical and computer engineering, horticultural engineering, horticulture, impact evaluation, and photobiology. These areas of expertise represent both research and outreach. By combining these different areas of expertise, we can do things together that we would not be able to do by ourselves. Synergy amongst the participants is key to our success.
To learn more about the people involved in this project, please click and check on each of the team members from the different institutions below.
University of Georgia
Marc van Iersel, Ph.D.
Project Director – “Posthumous emeritus“
Vincent J. Dooley Professorship
Department of Horticulture
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of Georgia
Dr. Marc van Iersel oversaw the UGA Horticulture Physiology Laboratory focused on photosynthesis and light use efficiency research. He also worked on applied research in controlled agriculture environments. He was the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including the 2019 UGA Entrenpreneur of the Year and Fellow of the American Society of Horticultural Science. He cofounded Candidus, Inc. with Erico Mattos where they transition greenhouse lighting technologies to products. For Project LAMP, van Iersel’s research focused on identifying the optimal light intensity and spectrum for the profitable production of crops in greenhouses and plant factories. Much of his work was based on developing a good understanding of plant physiological responses to light and to use that knowledge to develop optimized lighting strategies. Dr. van Iersel was the general director of the LAMP project until his passing earlier on 2023, and had completed all his objectives and responsabilities for the project by then.
For more information, please see:
UGA Faculty Page
UGA Horticulture Physiology Laboratory
ResearchGate
Google Scholar
University of Georgia
Rhuanito Soranz Ferrarezi, Ph.D.
Project Director
Associate Professor of Controlled Environment Agriculture
Department of Horticulture
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of Georgia
E-mail: ferrarezi@uga.edu
Dr. Ferrarezi is a researcher at the University of Georgia specializing in precision irrigation, fertilizer management, sap analysis, and cropping systems, including hydroponics, high throughput phenotyping, substrates, and lighting strategies. His work aims to optimize water usage, enhance crop productivity and resource utilization, and develop sustainable agricultural practices. He has kindly and graciously taken the role as new Project Director, and continues his arduous work in plant physiology and controlled environment agriculture. He also mentors the late Dr. Van Iersel’s students and is helping them finish their research projects and objectives.
For more information, please see:
UGA Faculty Page
CEA & Horticultural Physiology Lab
ResearchGate
University of Georgia
Ben Campbell, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Extension Economist
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of Georgia
E-mail: bencamp@uga.edu
Dr. Ben Campbell’s research focuses mainly on the economics and marketing of greenhouse, nursery, and turf products. With respect to Project LAMP, Dr. Campbell will oversee the economic and consumer marketing components of the grant with a focus on understanding the feasibility of implementing lighting technologies in greenhouses and consumer reaction to these technologies. Campbell is a member of our Outreach Team.
For more information, please see:
UGA Faculty page
ResearchGate
Google Scholar
IDEAS/Research Papers in Economics
University of Georgia
Mark A. Haidekker, Ph.D.
Professor
Biophotonics and Bioimaging
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Georgia
E-mail: mhaidekk@uga.edu
Dr. Haidekker has a background in biomedical engineering and computer science. His research areas include biomedical imaging with a focus on optical and x-ray based tomographical imaging, and fluorescence sensing and imaging. For Project LAMP, he will develop sensors and instrumentation for single-plant and canopy-wide measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence and the plant’s light use efficiency.
For more information, please see:
UGA Faculty Page
UGA Biophotonics and Bioimaging Laboratory
ResearchGate
Clemson University
Javad M. Velni, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Clemson Georgia
E-mail: javadm@clemson.edu
Dr. Javad Velni runs the UGA Complex Systems Control Laboratory (CSCL). CSCL is engaged in advancing several aspects of modeling and model-based control design for complex systems. His research interests involve multi-agent systems coordination, precision agriculture, secure control of cyber physical systems and modeling and model-based control of complex distribution systems. For Project LAMP, Dr. Velni and his group develop new model-based lighting control algorithms that take into account predictive information about the sunlight. His team will also implement and validate the to-be-developed control algorithms in inexpensive, yet powerful microcontrollers in greenhouses.
For more information, please see:
UGA Faculty Page
UGA Complex Systems Control Lab
ResearchGate
Colorado State University
Joshua Craver, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Controlled Environment Horticulture, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Colorado State University
E-mail: joshua.craver@colostate.edu
Dr. Joshua Craver’s research focuses on enhancing vegetable and floriculture crop production in controlled environments. His work aims to evaluate whole-plant physiological and morphological responses to 1) optimize the timing and extent of production inputs; 2) improve the efficient and sustainable use of natural resources; and 3) increase the productivity and quality of crops produced in controlled environments. In Project LAMP, Dr. Craver will assess plant photobiology and lighting optimization for both greenhouse (supplemental lighting) and indoor (sole-source lighting) production of floriculture crops using light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
For more information, please see:
Colorado State Faculty Page
ResearchGate
Cornell University
Neil S. Mattson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Greenhouse Extension Specialist
Horticulture Section, School of Integrative Plant Science
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University
E-mail: nsm47@cornell.edu
Dr. Neil Mattson is director of Cornell’s Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) group. The CEA group has over 25 years of interdisciplinary research successfully integrating plant physiology, agricultural engineering, and computer science to improve efficiency of horticultural crop production systems. Current projects include determining the scalability of urban CEA (in light of its water use, carbon footprint, and economic impact) and determining response of tomatoes and strawberries to light and CO2 enrichment. In Project LAMP, Mattson is developing light intensity and quality strategies to improve quality and reduce crop time of flower and vegetable transplants. Dr. Mattson also leads the Outreach Team for the project.
For more information, please see:
Cornell Controlled Environment Agriculture
Cornell Faculty Page
ResearchGate
Google Scholar
Rutgers University
Arend-Jan (A.J.) Both, Ph.D.
Professor and Extension Specialist
Department of Environmental Sciences
School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University
E-mail: both@sebs.rutgers.edu
Dr. A.J. Both is an agricultural engineer with research interests in environmental control for crop production systems and supplemental lighting, and systems engineering and renewable energy systems for controlled environment agriculture. He is a regular contributor for greenhouse publications such as Greenhouse Grower and Hort Americas. With Project LAMP, Dr. Both will focus on carbon footprint and life cycle assessment (LCA) of lighting systems, decision support system(s) for cost-effective lighting strategies, light distribution in tall plant canopies and lamp testing. He is also a member of our Outreach Team.
For more information, please see:
Rutgers’ Faculty Page
Rutgers’ Center for Controlled Environment Agriculture
ResearchGate
Google Scholar
Texas A&M University
Shuyang Zhen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor – Controlled Environment Horticulture
Department of Horticultural Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, TAMU University
E-mail: shuyang.zhen@tamu.edu
Shuyang Zhen, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in controlled environment horticulture in the Department of Horticultural Sciences. Zhen received her Ph.D. in Horticulture from University of Georgia in 2017 and worked as post-doctoral fellow and then research scientist in the Crop Physiology Laboratory at Utah State University from 2017 to 2020. Zhen’s current research focuses on environmental plant physiology and the optimization of specialty food and ornamental crop production in controlled environments. Her research interests include photosynthesis and crop yield, LED lighting, plant nutrition, hydroponics, and the selection of crops with improved performance in greenhouses and indoor vertical farms.
For more information, please see:
TAMU faculty page
University of Minnesota
Nathan Eylands, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Controlled Environment Agriculture
Department of Horticultural Sciences
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences
E-mail: neylands@umn.edu
Dr. Eylands worked on Project LAMP as a PhD student with Dr. Mattson. His research focused on the importance of far-red radiation in sole-source leafy green production. He is thrilled to continue working with Project LAMP as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on controlled environment agriculture with interests in light management, hydroponic techniques, deep winter greenhouse viability, sustainable products integration, and environment and plant sensor development. For project LAMP, Dr. Eylands is working on lighting strategies to optimize plant performance and quality in specialty food crops.
For more information, please see:
UMN faculty page
USDA-Agricultural Research Service
Jennifer Boldt, Ph.D.
Research Horticulturist
Greenhouse Production Research Group (GPRG), Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
United State Department of Agriculture, Toledo, Ohio
E-mail: Jennifer.Boldt@ars.usda.gov
Dr. Jennifer Boldt has over 25 years of experience in commercial greenhouse production, garden trial management and research. She and her ARS colleagues investigates production technologies, diseases, pests and abiotic stresses for greenhouse ornamental industries. Their goal is to transfer developed technologies to the industry through partnerships with state extension services and direct stakeholder activities. For Project LAMP, Dr. Boldt will update Virtual Grower software with the help of our research team. Virtual Grower allows greenhouse growers to estimate heating and lighting needs, predict crop growth, assist in scheduling, make real-time predictions of energy use, and assess supplemental lighting impacts on plant growth and development. Through Project LAMP, she will expand the lighting section of the software by integrating Project LAMP results to allow growers and our research teams to simulate specific lighting scenarios for different greenhouse operations to estimate the economics of supplemental lighting.
For more information, please see:
USDA Greenhouse Production Research Group
Virtual Grower
ResearchGate
USDA-Agricultural Research Service
Kale Harbick, Ph.D.
Research Agricultural Engineer
Greenhouse Production Research Group (GPRG), Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
United State Department of Agriculture, Toledo, Ohio
E-mail: kale.harbick@usda.gov
Dr. Kale Harbick recently joined USDA ARS as a research engineer. His research interests are in greenhouse energy modeling and environmental controls. His expertise is in developing control algorithms to improve lighting and environmental parameters in greenhouses and plant factories. In Project LAMP, Dr. Harbick will work on energy modeling of CEA buildings using ASHRAE heat balance and other standard methodologies.
For more information, please see:
USDA Greenhouse Production Research Group
Virtual Grower
Utah State University
Bruce Bugbee, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate
College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, Utah State University
E-mail: bruce.bugbee@usu.edu
Dr. Bruce Bugbee is a crop physiologist who teaches graduate level courses in plant nutrition and plant physiology. He is well known for his work with NASA to determine potential crop yield in controlled environments and he is currently funded by NASA to study food production on Mars. Nine of his former students are now on the faculty at other Universities. In 2011, he received the Governor’s Medal for Science from the State of Utah. Among his seminal achievements is a TED talk titled, “Turning Water into Food.” In 1996 he founded Apogee Instruments, a research-based company that develops and manufactures instrumentation for environmental monitoring. For Project LAMP, Dr. Bugbee will be working on crop growth and yield.
Team Members Who Have Finished Their Work
University of Georgia
Marie-Claude (Maric) Boudreau, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Department Head
Department of Management Information Systems
Terry College of Business, University of Georgia
E-mail: mcboudre@uga.edu
Dr. Maric Boudreau’s research areas of interest include organizational change induced by information systems and technologies and energy informatics. With Project LAMP, Dr. Boudreau is working with Dr. Rick Watson to enhance Virtual Grower software to incorporate lighting optimizations via different scenarios leveraging historical solar energy and electricity rates for the major growing areas. From this data, they will assess large scale impacts for energy consumption. They will work with current users of Virtual Grower to investigate other ways the platform could help them reduce their lighting costs.
For more information, please see:
UGA Faculty Page
ResearchGate
Google Scholar
University of Georgia
Kay Kelsey, Ph.D.
Professor and Director
Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of Georgia
E-mail: kdk@uga.edu
Dr. Kay Kelsey the director of the UGA Impact Evaluation Unit (IEU). IEU works with research teams to conduct project evaluations for broader impacts (BI) of a project. Dr. Kelsey has served as program evaluator, adult educator and qualitative research methodologist for over 25 years. She is the recipient of two Fulbright Senior Scholar awards. For Project LAMP, Dr. Kelsey will direct impact evaluation services for the life of the project. She is also a member of our Outreach Team.
For more information, please see:
UGA Faculty Page
UGA Impact Evaluation Unit
ResearchGate Google Scholar
University of Georgia
Thomas (Tom) Lawrence, Ph.D.
Professor of Practice, ASHRAE Fellow
Mechanical Engineering Program Lead
School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering, University of Georgia
E-mail: proftom@uga.edu
Dr. Tom Lawrence is former director and a fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). His research interests are focused around energy and water efficiency in the built environment. For Project LAMP, he is working to investigate the impacts of the newer lighting systems on the indoor agricultural environments, such as thermal and air distribution effects. He is a also member of our Outreach team.
For more information, please see:
UGA Faculty page
UGA Engineering and Education Transformations Institute
ResearchGate
Google Scholar
University of Georgia
WenZhan Song, Ph.D.
Georgia Power Mickey A. Brown Professor and Director
Computer Engineering
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Georgia
E-mail: wsong@uga.edu
Dr. WenZhan Song is the director of the UGA Center for Cyber-Physical Systems’s and runs the UGA Sensorweb Research Laboratory. His research focuses on cyber-physical systems informatics and security and their applications in energy, health and the environment. He is a recipient of the NSF Career Award. Song’s Project LAMP work will focus on designing energy management algorithms, sensor networks and data analytics tools.
For more information, please see:
UGA Faculty Page
UGA Center for Cyber-Phsical Systems
UGA Sensorweb Research Laboratory
ResearchGate
Google Scholar
University of Georgia
Richard (Rick) Watson, Ph.D.
Regents Professor & J. Rex Fuqua Distinguished Chair for Internet Strategy
Department of Management Information Systems
Terry College of Business, University of Georgia
E-mail: rwatson@terry.uga.edu
Dr. Rick Watson was for a decade the research director for the Advanced Practices Council of the Society for Information Management. His research interests include ecological sustainability, engery informatics and information systems strategy. He is a recipient of the Association for Information Systems’ LEO Award for exceptional lifetime achievements in information systems. For Project LAMP, Dr. Watson will apply the principles of energy informatics to minimize the energy costs of supplemental lighting and will work with Dr. Maric Boudreau to enhance Virtual Grower.
For more information, please see:
UGA Faculty Page
ResearchGate
Google Scholar