Current Students:
Eric Wilkening (M.S. student)
Raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Eric Wilkening’s roots in agriculture are strong as he is the 7th generation at his family’s farm near Arlington, NE. Following the completion of his bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he is pursuing a master’s degree in the same field. As an undergraduate, Eric worked on multiple irrigation research projects with topics ranging from system performance to advanced scheduling techniques. With interests in water resource conservation, irrigation system performance, and extension outreach programs, Eric’s graduate research is involving the in-field implementation and performance analysis of models combining irrigation and fertigation management under the advisement of Dr. Derek Heeren. You can read about one of Eric's projects here.
Jamie Duan (Ph.D. student)
I received my bachelor’s degree in Irrigation and Drainage Engineering at Hohai University, Nanjing, China. I had a deep recognition of the worldwide water shortage and pollution from my undergraduate study, which inspired my determination to continue research of hydrology and water resource as a master's student. I did my master’s degree at Texas A&M University, where I participated in ecohydrology research. My master’s thesis was “Influence of land-use change and agriculture practices on water, carbon, and energy fluxes.” However, many problems that appeared in my graduate research told me that I should dive deeper into research to get to the solutions. I received an opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where I am now co-advised by Dr. Daran Rudnick and Dr. Derek Heeren.