Associate Professor

Romulo Lollato, PhD

Dr. Romulo Lollato is an associate professor of Agronomy, Extension Wheat and Forage Specialist, in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS, USA. Romulo grew up on his family’s farm in southern Brazil, where his passion for agriculture started. He received his B.S. degree in Agronomic Engineering from Londrina State University, M.S. in Plant and Soil Sciences from Oklahoma State University (OSU), and Ph.D. in Crop Science from OSU. In his current role, he provides leadership for an interdisciplinary team of students working on a number of research projects related to minimizing wheat and alfalfa yield gaps through improved management practices, as well as crop interaction with the environment (i.e., crop ecology) and its impacts on environmental outcomes. He has authored about 60 peer-reviewed publications, and he has developed and delivered over 600 extension presentations to over 30,000 stakeholders representing diverse national and international agriculture-related clientele. Romulo received the 2023 Excellent in Extension Award from the Crop Science Society of America. He serves the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America as member or chair in a number of committees, has served as an associate editor (AE) for Agronomy Journal for four years, serves as an AE for Field Crops Research, and a reviewer for several refereed journals. In 2024, Romulo became the chair of the Expert Working Group in Agronomy of the Wheat Initiative where he will provide leadership in benchmarking and providing guidelines for wheat agronomy research globally.

Post-Doc

Peng Chen, PhD

Dr. Peng Chen is a post doc in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University enthusiastic to guide agriculture toward a sustainable future with the guiding principles of biology, data science, and agronomy. He was fascinated by the sciences conducted by researchers in the botanic garden near his childhood home. He later started his research journey as a junior-year student in college and has since authored ten peer-reviewed publications and a dozen conference abstracts. His current focus is on analyzing wheat and alfalfa production data with techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment to make recommendations to stakeholders, researchers, and policymakers. He also became interested in the soil amendment and carbon sequestration properties of returned crop residues and the potential of biochar production from these waste materials. He plans to continue his endeavors in transdisciplinary study to transform agriculture and meet the sustainable development goals set by the UN

PhD Student

Nicolas Giordano

Nico Giordano is a PhD student in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University. He is originally from Lincoln a town within the Pampas region of Argentina. He obtained his B.S. in Agronomy at the University of Buenos Aires and joined Dr. Lollato's program in January 2021, initially as a MSc student and he later swapped to a PhD program during Fall of 2022. Nico's passion for integrating state-of-the-art statistical models, programming and crop eco-physiology led him to publish papers in refereed journals such as Frontiers of Plant Science and Field Crops Research. His research focuses on management, environmental and physiological drivers of wheat grain yield and protein response to late nitrogen applications. Also, he studies the relations of wheat grain yield and protein concentration in response to nitrogen input from the perspective of phenotypic plasticity. Furthermore, he investigates the genetic basis of genotype x environment interactions of winter wheat yield in the Central Great Plains. Part of his research implements Bayesian hierarchical models to conduct risk assessment of plant density and seeding management decisions. His research focus extents to defining sustainable wheat systems by major stakeholders across the entire wheat supply chain

PhD Student

Aastha Gautam

Aastha Gautam is a Ph.D. student in the department of Agronomy at Kansas State University. Her academic journey has been deeply rooted in her upbringing in a farming family in Nepal, sparking her passion for addressing agricultural challenges. She completed her B.S in Agricultural Science from Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal and M.S in Plant Science from South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD. Her M.S. research was focused on assessing the effect of naked oat genotypes on rancidity development. Currently, she is involved in the GRIP project emphasizing on sustainability in wheat production and supply chain.

Master Student

Luiz Otavio Pradella

Luiz Otavio Pradella is an MSc student in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS, USA. He joined Dr. Lollato's program in January 2021, initially as a research scholar and moving to an MSc student position in January 2022. He obtained his B.S. degree in Agronomic Engineering at the University of Sao Paulo (USP/ESALQ). Growing up on a farm, Luiz's early passion for agriculture propelled him into R&D during his B.S. He later gained experience in the public and private sectors, working with interdisciplinary teams to bridge the gap between theory and practical application in contrasting scenarios. His main research focuses on crop ecology, more specifically phenotypic plasticity. Seeking a better understanding of interactions between management, environmental, and genotypical drivers of wheat tillering and grain yield. Additionally, he investigates the same interactions on micronutrient deficiencies in the Great Plains areas. In his current role, Luiz is responsible for lab and field activities, data collection, processing, and analysis. Subsequently, drafting publications for technical and company reports, and scientific journals. He is also responsible for the coordination, training, and qualification of collaborators involved in these activities.

Master Student

Mariana de Oliveira Mota

Mariana Mota is an MSc student in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS, USA. Originally from Campinas, Brazil, Mariana received her B.S. degree in Agronomic Engineering from the University of Sao Paulo (ESAL/USP). With a background in both the public and private sectors, Mariana obtained experience in animal and plant precision production, providing support to decision-makers through data analyses, and leading to the generation of agronomic recommendations. In January 2022, Mariana enjoyed Dr. Lollato’s team, contributing as a research scholar in both laboratory and field activities. Subsequently, she started her master’s degree in January 2024. Her first research focused on alfalfa forage, with a primary goal of quantifying maximum water use efficiency (WUE) and identifying potential limitations related to nitrogen supply in alfalfa fields. Her research also extended to winter wheat studies, in which she analyses the impact of different nitrogen rates across a range of wheat varieties.

Master Student

Jorge Romero Soler

Jorge Romero is a Master's student in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University. His passion for agriculture began at a young age as he grew up on his family's farm in Colombia. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Agronomic Engineering from the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia in 2020. After finishing his undergrad, he moved to the southeastern of Colombia where he worked for two years with cereal crops and forage production. He joined Dr. Lollato’s program as a scientist assistant in April 2021, He was leading the program activities such as collecting and processing data from the wheat research trials across the state of Kansas. Then, he started his master’s in January 2023 focusing his research on yield gap analysis and crop modeling. He estimated the winter wheat yield gap and its causes in the Republic of Georgia which is a country with high vulnerability in its national food security due to its dependence on Russian wheat.  Jorge scored 1st place in the Wheat Initiative poster competition at the American Society of Agronomy meeting in 2023.