SUMMARY

Over 25 years experience and education with technical expertise in plant physiology, shoot, root, and cell phenotyping, ecology, fisheries and wildlife, as well as competence toward project management, and networking. Strong technical aptitude to build and deploy scientific equipment, to develop software controls for the equipment, and to collect, store, and process information. Form and facilitate teams of local and international stakeholders to develop and implement environmental policy and plant phenotyping platforms. Strive to be entrepeneurial by identifying new technologies, and pitch innovation through grant and project proposals. Eagerly seek out, learn, and apply new skills. Skill with image analysis, remote sensing, and GIS applications.

Technical Experience and Knowledge

• 25+ years experience designing, performing, and analyzing data from growth chamber and greenhouse research to characterize phenotypes of plants subjected to biotic and abiotic treatments
• 25+ years experience maintaining precise experimental conditions in greenhouse and growth chamber systems, including plant management activities such as specialized nutrient applications and precision watering, as well as facilities maintenance such as programming of system controls
• 15+ years experience designing, performing, and analyzing data from field research in experimental plots characterizing phenotypic variation of above and below ground components of plants ranging from crop varieties to perennial woody species to annual grasses
• Expertise in image analysis, with 12+ years of coding for feature extraction from RGB images and 2+ years of coding for feature extraction from hyperspectral images
• Expertise in environmental monitoring, with 12+ years of experience assembling, coding, and deploying environmental sensors and data logger equipment
• 20+ years experience conducting field research performing population surveys of insects, waterfowl, fisheries, and vegetation, as well as quantification of the habitat and environments around these populations

Organizational Experience and Knowledge

• 20+ years experience identifying, organizing, and facilitating people to effectively develop and implement work packages, ranging from introduction of novel genotyping and phenotyping platforms to new technology development to environmental policy
• 10+ years experience acting as the point person for laboratory management, ensuring that individuals using the laboratories followed safety protocols as well as appropriate stewardship guidelines
• 5+ years experience organizing across company units and with third-party entities to ensure successful execution of research activities, including a pilot project to screen for microbe-plant interactions, a remote sensing phenotying platform, and deployment of a high-throughput imaging system
• Authored and submitted over 25 internal innovation proposals, six awarded

EXPERIENCE

Plant Science: Scientist III (2010 – Present), Senior Associate Scientist (2006 – 2010). BASF Plant Science, LLC. NC 27709

Led teams to develop, validate, and implement components of various projects, including a forward genetics platform, a field imaging platform, and a high-throughput, automated imaging system for greenhouse and growth chamber research; Developed and conducted large scale, high throughput screens to phenotype physiological and morphological variation among diverse inbred and hybrid populations of corn, soybean, and rice under normal conditions and under biotic and abiotic stress; Developed and validated screens to assess the impacts of biologicals on plant development; Developed expertise in characterizing whole plants and individual plant organs such as roots, leaves, stems, and vasculature, through image analysis; Gained experience creating databases to store, manage, and assess large data sets in Access; Drove networking across company units, third party collaborators, and academic institutions; Designed and built a chamber system to assess irradiance on early soybean development

Plant Science: Graduate Research Assistant (February, 2002 – October, 2005). Crop Physiology Lab, Utah State University, UT 84322

Assessed temperature stress and ethylene-sensitivity in tomatoes; Assessed differential ethylene-sensitivity between tomato mutants and cultivars; Characterized plant physiological responses to STS, 1-MCP, and ethylene in peas and tomatoes; Monitored and maintained experimental conditions using Type-E thermocouples, humidity probes, EC meters, pH meters, quantum sensors, CO₂ infrared gas analyzers, gas chromatography, and Campbell Scientific dataloggers and software; Performed plant growth analyses such as RGR, LAI, LAR, and NAR using digital imagery, leaf area meters, and analyses of plant mass and height; Assessed plant health parameters such as chlorophyll content using a SPAD meter; Conducted studies of photosynthetic efficiency and carbon assimilation in radish by generating a CO₂ depletion curve from a closed system and a light response curve from an open system; Wrote grant proposals and articles for journal submission; Maintained greenhouse facilities

Forest Restoration: Field Research Assistant (Mar, 2001 – Aug, 2001). Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona University, AZ 86011

Analyzed forest health, including canopy and understory components; Mapped forest plots to determine forest growth dynamics and restoration practices

Assistant District Environment Officer/Agroforestry Front-line Extensionist: U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer (Jul, 1998 – Sep, 2000). Uganda and Kenya.

Taught proposal writing about community-based wetland conservation initiatives; Organized committees to develop economic and environmental policy; Addressed public gatherings, planned and impromptu; Conducted biodiversity survey of native and non-native forest and wetland flora; Assisted a small CBO to develop and maintain a Tilapia fish pond

Plant Ecophysiology: Research Assistant (Mar, 1989 – Jun, 1998). Ecology Center, Utah State University, UT 84322

Conducted field and lab studies on plant responses to UV-A, UV-B, and PAR to generate BSWF’s; Maintained and monitored experimental conditions using a spectroradiometer; Performed assays on phenolics and carotenoids from leaf epidermal cells with a spectrophotometer to assess damage caused by UV-B radiation; Installed soil psychrometers to field locations to monitor soil moisture dynamics in mixed stands of shrubs and grasses; Identified and enumerated root segments using pigment flourescence under a black light to assess competition in nutrient-limiting environments; Performed assays to quantify root growth and development dynamics in field and lab studies under various nutrient and competition regimes

Limnology: Field Technician (Summer, 1992). Ecology Center, Utah State University, UT 84322

Surveyed plankton populations in Lake Margaret, AK; Collected, preserved, and processed phyto- and zooplankton samples; Assessed health of indigenous and anadromous salmonids; Tagged salmonids with subcutaneous tags

English Tutor: Oct, 1988 - Jun, 1992). Writing Center, Utah State University, UT 84322

Tutored university students to develop proper writing and editing skills

Stream Ecology: Lab Assistant (Sep, 1987 – Jun, 1988). Ecology Center, Utah State University, UT 84322

Identified freshwater, aquatic invertebrates; Read and interpreted stream reach maps to identify habitat differences, Extensive use with microscopes

Waterfowl Management: Seasonal Aide (Oct, 1986 – May, 1987). California Dept. of Fish and Game, Mendota Wildlife Area, CA 93640

Assessed waterfowl nesting habitat and predator presence; Conducted pair count transects; Identifed waterfowl and bag limits at hunter check station at Kern National Wildlife Area; Assessed migrant waterfowl usage of agricultural drainage ponds

Mosquito Control Officer: (Summers, 1985 – 1991). Teton County Road and Levee Dept., WY 83001

Worked with landowners, county officials, and pro- and anti-control groups; Worked to develop an environmentally conscious mosquito control program

EDUCATION

2015 Graduate Certificate in GIS College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

2005 M.S. Plant Science Plant,Soils, and Biometeorology Dept., Utah State University, Logan, UT

1992 B.S. Fish and Wildlife College of Natural Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT

1992 B.S. English Department of English, Utah State University, Logan, UT

Academic Activities:

Biology Club; Interim Secretary, USU Subchapter, American Fisheries Society; Undergraduate project to survey flora and fauna of mosquito habitat

Awards:

Class of Fifty Scholarship (Fisheries and Wildlife) – 1988

Emma Eccles Scholarship (English) – 1991

Resident Tuition Waiver (Plant Science) – 2004

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS

Language training: Spanish, Kiswahili

Extensive use and programming of dataloggers, environmental sensors, gas chromatography, and microscopes

Extensive use of image analysis software including Halcon, NIS-Elements D, ImageJ, WinRHIZO, ENVI, Erdas Imagine, ArcMap, QGIS, TauDEM, ArcHydro

Extensive use of Excel, Access, Word, Visual Basic

Developing skills in assembling micro-controllers (Arduino, Raspberry Pi) and programming using Python

Hobbies and skills include writing, mechanics, hiking, hunting, fishing, darts, leathercraft, roofing, long distance running, mushroom hunting

Extensive use of phenotyping equipment such as the Licor 6400XT, Walz MiniPAM, Walz PAM 2500, Licor LI-2200 LAI Meter, Licor LI-3100 Leaf Area Meter, PMS Model 615 Pressure Chamber, Campbell Scientific Hydrosense 1 and Hydrosense 2 moisture probes, Flir thermal cameras, Licor LI-1400 data logger, Licor 250A light meter, Minolta SPAD 502, StellarNet EPP2000 spectrometer, Skye Instruments Red / Far Red Meter

Professional memberships: AAAS, ASA-CSSA-SSSA

PUBLICATIONS AND ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

Patent application title: Plant productivity enhancement by combining chemical agents with transgenic modifications. Inventors: Dirk Voeste (Limburgerhof, DE), Egon Haden (Kleinniedesheim, DE), Bryan Mckersie (Raleigh, NC, US), Xi-Qing Wang (Chapel Hill, NC, US), Timothy Hudelson (Durham, NC, US). Assignees: BASF SE. IPC8 Class: AA01N5100FI. USPC Class: 5142292. Class name: Three or more ring hetero atoms in the six-membered hetero ring . Publication date: 04/15/2010. Patent application number: 20100093715.

Stephan D Flint; Ronald J Ryel; Timothy J Hudelson; Martyn M Caldwell. 2009. Serious complications in experiments in which UV doses are effected by using different lamp heights. Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology 97(1):48-53.

Hudelson, T.J., S.P. Klassen, and B. Bugbee. 2003. Temperature effects on ethylene sensitivity. Annual Meetings of the American Society of Agronomy, Nov. 2-6, 2003, Denver, CO.

Hudelson, T.J., S.P. Klassen, and B. Bugbee. 2004. Temperature effects on ethylene sensitivity in dwarf tomatoes. Habitation Conference, Jan. 2004, Orlando, FL.

Cui, M. and M.M. Caldwell. 1996. Facilitation of plant phosphate acquisition by arbuscular mycorrhizae from enriched soil patches: II. Hyphae exploiting root-free soil. New Phytologist 133: 461-467.

Duke, S.E. and M.M. Caldwell. 2001. Nitrogen acquisition from different spatial distributions by six great basin plant species. Western North American Naturalist 61(1): 93-102.

Ryel, R.J., M.M. Caldwell, and J.H. Manwaring. 1996. Temporal dynamics of soil spatial heterogeneity in sagebrush-wheatgrass steppe during a growing season. Plant and Soil 184: 299-309.