Margaret Fernando (she/her) - Ph.D. Student

Margaret completed her B.S. in Chemistry at Iowa State University and continued with a M.S. in Plant Science at California State University, Fresno. While completing her M.S. degree she worked for the USDA-ARS in Parlier, Cal., and researched the impacts of native and introduced cover crops on soil health, crop-water dynamics, and weed pressure in a table grape vineyard. Margaret’s interests primarily involve agroecology and the effects of farming practices on soil health. Her Ph.D. research will compare organic and conventional systems, and her main objective is to determine whether the transition to organic can be optimized with regenerative management.  

Cindy Maldonado (she/her) - Ph.D. student
co-chaired Ph.D. student (with Sunny Liao)

Cindy earned a B.S. in Microbiology from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and holds a Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the National University of Colombia. Her professional experience in Colombia focused on the use of beneficial, cultivable microorganisms to develop bioproducts for the control of crop pests and diseases, with the goal of reducing reliance on synthetic chemical pesticides. She joined the lab in Fall 2025 and is currently a Ph.D. student in the Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences program. Her main research interests center on understanding and harnessing the potential of soil microbial communities to improve soil health, enhance plant productivity, and contribute to resilient agroecosystems.

Rajkaranbir Singh (he/him) - Ph.D. Student (SNRE)

Raj earned an M.S. degree in Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Florida in 2024. His thesis focused on nitrogen management in snap bean in north Florida. Currently, Raj is pursuing a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Ecology, exploring the potential of double cropping to improve the profitability in organic grain and forage systems in Florida.

Kendall Mackin (she/her) - OPS

Kendall first joined the lab in 2021 as an undergraduate intern primarily assisting with a project looking at soil health related to different cover crop arrangements and fertilization approaches in organic vegetable production. She earned a B.S. in environmental science with a minor in plant science at the University of Florida in the spring of 2023. Since then, she has assisted with lab work for several different projects including work with nutrient cycling analyses and soil health indicators. She earned her MS conducting research focused on the optimization of a soil enzyme activity assay for using coarse textured soil and its application in assessing the impact of cover crops on soil health in Florida citrus groves.