Curriculum vitae

Principal Investigator
sprunge5@msu.edu

Dr. Christine Sprunger is an Assistant Professor of Soil Health in the Department of Plant,
Soil, and Microbial Sciences and is based at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. Her research focuses on the intersection of agriculture and the environment, where she investigates how various agricultural management practices impact soil health and ecosystem services. In addition, Dr. Sprunger is interested in understanding how nematode communities can serve as key soil biological health indicators within agroecosystems. Lastly, Dr. Sprunger explores how climate change impacts rhizosphere dynamics and soil food webs.
 

Prior to joining MSU, Dr. Sprunger was an Assistant Professor of Soil Science and Rhizosphere Processes at Ohio State University from 2018-2022. Prior to starting a faculty position, Dr. Sprunger completed a National Science Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Biology at Columbia University, where she examined the relationship between soil carbon dynamics and crop productivity in small holder farming systems in Kenya and Tanzania. Dr. Sprunger holds a Ph.D. in Crop and Soil Sciences and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior from Michigan State University, and she received both a B.S. in Forest Resources and a B.A. in Program on the Environment from the University of Washington with a minor in Human Rights.

Lab Manager

mannmere@msu.edu

Meredith joined Dr. Sprunger's lab in the beginning of September 2019, after working for The Ohio State University's Soil Fertility Lab since 2017. As lab manager, she oversees lab operations and analyses, coordinates field research trials, and facilitates graduate and undergraduate research. Meredith is a northeast Ohio native with a B.A. in Geology from the College of Wooster. She enjoys working with the environment and in her free time can be found hiking, reading, and tending sheep.

PhD Student 
mart2758@msu.edu

Tvisha Martin obtained her B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Toledo in May, 2019. Additionally, Tvisha obtained her M.S from The Ohio State University in May 2021 from Dr. Christine Sprunger’s Lab. Her Master’s thesis analyzed the effects of tillage and crop rotation on soil biological health through the quantification of nematode communities. Tvisha has since started her doctoral research in the Soil Health & Ecosystem Ecology lab where her research will aim to understand how nematode communities can serve as soil biological health indicators under induced drought. Additionally, Tvisha’s doctoral research will aim to understand how soil biological health changes over the growing season under systems with a varying management gradient. Her doctoral research will be performed at the Kellogg Biological Station Long-term Ecological Restoration Site. Tvisha's research interests include quantifying soil biological health through microbial sequencing and nematode communities, optimizing agricultural management under climate change, and the using quantitative modeling to understand the soil health framework. In her free time, Tvisha enjoys running, hiking, climbing, and reading a good book.  

HANNA KORN, BS

Research Assistant

kornhann@msu.edu

Hanna obtained her B.S. in Biological Sciences from Western Michigan University in Spring 2022. She became a summer Lab Technician at WMU assisting research with Yellow Warblers, soil microbes, prairie strips and prairie restoration. She joined Dr. Sprungers lab in the beginning of September 2022 as a Research Assistant. She has a strong interest in botany and gardening. In her spare time she enjoys embroidering and making jewelry while watching the latest binge worthy tv show with her cat, Gaia.