Graduate Mentors

Aug. 19, 2026

Shelley Curry

Curry is an Assistant Professor of Meat Science in the Division of Animal Sciences at the University of Missouri. Curry’s research program focuses on fresh meat quality and lipid biology, with an emphasis on understanding how animal nutrition, physiology and pre-harvest stress influence muscle lipid metabolism, carcass composition and subsequent meat quality. Research themes encompass: 1) determining how nutritional and environmental factors alter lipid deposition and metabolism in skeletal muscle, 2) investigating relationships among muscle lipid characteristics, fatty acid composition and fresh meat quality, 3) developing pre-harvest strategies to improve meat quality, consistency and shelf life, and…

Aug. 19, 2026

Elliott Dennis

Elliott Dennis is an agricultural economist whose research focuses on livestock, poultry, and meat markets. His work examines how livestock are priced and marketed; how producers can manage price volatility; and how issues of production and policy affect producers, processors, and consumers. Through applied research, market analysis, and outreach, Dennis develops practical decision tools and educational programs for livestock and poultry producers and meat processors. His research also supports industry stakeholders and public-sector decision-makers, including State Department of Agriculture, Commodity Groups, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, by informing policy and market-related decisions across the livestock and poultry…

Jan. 6, 2026

Jagdeep Singh Sidhu

Sidhu grew up on a small farm in Punjab, India, an experience that continues to shape his approach to agricultural research. Motivated by practical challenges faced by farmers, his work integrates fundamental plant biology with applied breeding to improve crop resilience. His training spans crop breeding and genetics, root biology, and in silico modelling. Educational Background…

Aug. 25, 2025

Erik Amézquita

I am an Assistant Professor for Data Science at the Division of Plant Science & Technology with an adjunct appointment in Math. I am mainly interested in understanding and modeling plant morphology using topological data analysis (TDA). I am also interested in morphometrics, developmental plant biology, basic image processing, directional statistics, and data science for social justice. I go by he/él pronouns.   I got my Ph.D. from the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering (CMSE) at Michigan State University. I worked under the guidance of Dan Chitwood and Liz Munch. Before that, I got my math degree…

Aug. 18, 2025

Veridiana Daley

Daley’s research program focuses on nutrition and metabolism in dairy cattle, with a strong emphasis on nutrient supply and requirements. Her current work investigates the supply and metabolism of individual amino acids and fatty acids in dairy cows aiming to manipulate milk components (fat and protein).   She also conducts modeling studies using advanced programming techniques to integrate nutrition, animal health, and stress physiology into a system-level framework.   During her doctoral studies, Daley developed a ration formulation software in Brazil (RLM Leite) designed to support precision feeding strategies. She completed her postdoctoral training through the National Animal Nutrition…

Nov. 4, 2024

Muhammad Rasel Parvej

Rasel Parvej is the Director of the MU Soil and Plant Testing Laboratory and the Soil Health Assessment Center (SHAC), as well as an Assistant Professor and State Extension Specialist in Soil Testing and Interpretation within the Division of Plant Science and Technology and the School of Natural Resources. He has been serving as an Associate Editor for both the Soil Science Society of America Journal and Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Management since 2020. Parvej is also a certified crop advisor and has been elected vice-chair of the National Research Support Project (NRSP-11) at NIMSS…

Aug. 14, 2024

Jason R.V. Franken

My research is interdisciplinary by nature, drawing from economics, marketing, and decision sciences to understand the organization of marketing channels (i.e., transactions, contracts, and cooperatives) for adding value and managing risk. Educational background Courses taught…

Aug. 14, 2024

Jim Green

Green is an Associate Professor of Personal Financial Planning in the Division of Applied Social Sciences of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri – Columbia. He is a native of Florida but comes to the University of Missouri from San Antonio, TX where he spent the nine years as a financial planning and portfolio manager with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Additionally, for the three years, he was an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the H-E-B School of Business Administration, University of the Incarnate Word. He earned his undergraduate degree from the…

Aug. 12, 2024

Curtis A. Nutter

Co/post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression by alternative RNA processing is a highly regulated and complex process that exponentially increases the repertoire and dynamic control of gene products. Disrupted RNA processing is implicated in many human diseases, in particular neurological disorders. Alternative RNA processing is regulated by developmental and tissue specific RNA binding proteins (RBPs) which influence core RNA processing machinery. My group will study these regulatory interactions involved in co/post-transcriptional control of neurological development and cell membrane transport/secretion. We will characterize these mechanisms using cutting edge RNA sequencing technology, single-molecule RNA detection, mass-spectroscopy, and CRISPR techniques to address our…

Aug. 12, 2024

Prashant D. Sonawane

Plants synthesize a huge repertoire of diverse, lineage-specific Specialized (secondary) metabolites (also known as Natural Products). Although plant specialized metabolites play a central role in defense and stress responses, many of these compounds are also indispensable resources for human nutrition and medicine. In plants, all known specialized metabolites are derived from core/primary metabolites, which are vital for eukaryotic life. Plant derived specialized molecules/natural products have become an integral part of human health (steroid hormones; e.g. progesterone, estrogen), nutrition (e.g. vitamin D supplements, dietary supplements such as Tribulus extracts) and medicine [drugs for treatments ranging from mild inflammation, allergies to…