President: Mauro Martínez Moré
Mauro Martínez Moré is a PhD student in the Soybean Breeding lab under Dr. Eliana Monteverde. His research integrates crop growth modelling, genomic prediction, envirotyping, and photosynthetic trait measurement into breeding pipelines to enhance soybean yield and improve line selection. In his spare time, he enjoys playing soccer and tennis, swimming, and having good times with friends.
Vice-President: Marcos Bonini Pires
Marcos Bonini Pires is a PhD student at the Illinois Soil Fertility Lab, where his research focuses on enhancing soil fertility management in winter wheat-soybean double-crop systems. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Agronomic Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil (2023), and his master's degree in Crop Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2026). His research interests center on sustainable agriculture practices, and nitrogen management. In his free time, Marcos enjoys outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, cycling, running, and playing soccer.
Treasurer: Holly Anderson
Holly is a PhD student co-advised by Jack Juvik and Angela Kent. She studies how root exudation regulates the maize microbiome and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Her hobbies include playing volleyball and making ceramics.
Secretary: Rishabh Singh
Rishabh is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Weed Molecular Biology and Genomics Lab at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on understanding the molecular basis of herbicide resistance in major weeds like waterhemp and Palmer amaranth. He serves as the Co-Chair for the Plant Science Symposium 2026. Outside of academics, Rishabh enjoys road trips, spending time outdoors, and volleyball. He is also passionate about learning and exploring cultures and traditions from around the world.
Social Chair and Media Chair: Chole Menckowski
Chloe is a Master’s student in the Department of Crop Sciences working in Dr. Martin Bohn’s lab, co-advised by Dr. Angela Kent. Her work focuses on breeding maize for biological nitrification inhibition to contribute to more sustainable maize production systems. Outside of the field, she likes to read, travel, and play chess.
Social Chair: Sreya Venadan
Sreya Venadan is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, working in Dr. Matthew Hudson’s lab. Her research centers on developing automated genome engineering and phenotyping pipelines to improve lipid accumulation in bioenergy crops. Her broader interests include plant genetics, functional genomics, synthetic biology and applying automation and AI to accelerate crop improvement. Outside the lab, she enjoys painting, reading, hiking, camping, and immersing herself in nature.
Social Chair: Shrisha Shrestha
Shrisha Shrestha is a master’s student in Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in Dr. Boris Camiletti Smart Plant Pathology lab. Her research explores strategies for managing red crown rot of soybean, with particular interest in biological control, seed-applied treatments, and factors that influence disease development. She is especially interested in understanding plant–pathogen interactions and translating research findings into practical, sustainable approaches for crop disease management. Outside of her academic work, she enjoys traveling, watching movies, camping, and spending time outdoors.
Networking Chair: Vidhi Desai
Coming Soon.
Teaching Committee Representative and Student Ambassador: Kayla Vittore
Kayla is a PhD candidate in the DK Lee Lab. Her research focus is sustainable agronomy and bioeconomy crops. On the CSGO Board, Kayla is currently a Student Ambassador and Teaching Committee Representatives on the Crop Sciences Graduate Program Committee. You are welcome to contact her via university email, kaylamv2@illinois.edu
Teaching Committee Representative: Rashid Sulleiman
Rashid Sulleiman is a first-year PhD student who completed his Master's at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in summer 2026. His research centers on plant–nematode interactions, with his doctoral work in the Schroeder Lab examining how plant-parasitic nematodes are affected by cover crops. Outside of research, Rashid enjoys spending time with family and friends, volunteering in ways that strengthen his community, watching movies, and keeping up with current news.
Webmaster: Tuba Yasmin Lubna
Tuba is a second-year PhD student at the Illinois Agronomy Lab in Department of Crop Sciences at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on water quality, nutrient conservation and innovating sustainable crop management strategies. Outside of research, Tuba loves to travel, explore new places, cycling, fishing, hiking, engaging with diverse cultures and building meaningful friendships with people around the world.
Student Ambassador: Mahadi Hasan
Mahadi Hasan is a first-year PhD student in the Illinois Agronomy Lab under Dr. Giovani Preza Fontes in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on cover crops and nutrient management, and water quality. He loves to explore nature by traveling to new places. In addition, Mahadi likes to spend time with friends and family.
Student Ambassador: Peyton Sorensen
Peyton Sorensen is a third year PhD student in the Field Crop Pathology Group with Dr. Tiffany Jamann. Her research focuses on fine mapping a resistance gene in maize for bacterial leaf streak, as well as characterizing hydathode resistance to Goss’s wilt. In her free time, Peyton enjoys reading, running, knitting, spending time outdoors, and playing with her two cats, Bob and Toadstool.
Student Ambassador: Krishna Raj Pandey
Krishna Raj Pandey is a first-year PhD student in Dr. Camiletti's Smart Plant Pathology Lab. His research centers on red crown rot of soybean caused by Calonectria ilicicola, with interests in how the pathogen infects and colonizes soybean, what contributes to differences in pathogenicity, and the genomic factors underlying those differences. Outside of research, he enjoys playing cricket, football (soccer), pickleball, and table tennis, as well as cooking, playing guitar, and watching movies.
Student Ambassador: Finnlweigh Woodlings
Finnleigh is a PhD student in the soils lab. His focus is on soil organic matter and soil health, looking to improve our understanding of the biogeochemical mechanisms underlying healthy soils, and how we measure them. His current project focuses on identifying the volatile organic compounds responsible for the smells farmers perceive in healthy soils here in the Corn Belt. When not smelling soils, he enjoys baking bread and watching the Philadelphia Eagles (go birds).