Program History
In the summer of 2022 Dr. Ekrem Ozlu joined the faculty at North Carolina State University as an Assistant Professor of Soil Management. Before Dr. Ozlu started at NC State University, he was a postdoctoral research associate at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Center, W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State working to identify and predict nitrous oxide fluxes using soil and environmental variables. Dr. Ozlu worked quickly to establish a work space and lab at the Vernon G. James/Tidewater Research Station. In spring 2023 Dr. Ozlu hired his first Masters graduate student Carlee Epting, whose work focused on impacts of tillage practices and cover crop adaptations on soil health. Soon after Dr. Ozlu hired his first technician, Christopher Parker, who worked with Carlee to establish lab and sampling protocols. In the summer of 2023, Alam Ramirez Reyes joined the lab as Dr. Ozlu’s first Ph.D. graduate student. Alam’s research focuses on soil compaction related issues. In 2024, both technician Jerad Carter and visiting scholar Ozlem Ustundag joined the lab. Jerad works with all grad students organizing and conducting sampling for projects. Ozlem’s work currently focuses on biochar in greenhouse and field applications. More recently the lab has added two more technicians, Matthew Carter and Abishek Muthukathan who work on separate extension projects as well as support for graduate students.