UF MILTON - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Ashton is interested in the conservation, ecology and management of uneven-aged longleaf pine ecosystems. He's research is focused on quantifying the effects of harvests and hurricane damage on residual longleaf pine stand growth and development.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Barbara Almario is an Area Wildlife Biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). She has been responsible for directing wildlife habitat management activities on Blackwater and Yellow River Wildlife Management Areas since 2006. Originally from Wisconsin, Barbara received her B.S in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her M.S. in Applied Ecology and Conservation Biology from Frostburg State University in Maryland. She moved to Florida in 2005, working for a short time at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Gulf Ecology Division lab in Gulf Breeze and at Eglin Air Force Base Jackson Guard before transitioning to her current position.
Barbara's research examines hydrology, water chemistry, and land cover changes in the watersheds of northwest Florida's coastal dune lakes. Coastal dune lakes are considered globally rare, biologically diverse, critically imperiled because of their rarity, and thereby, vulnerable to extinction. Her research examines hydrology and water chemistry through monitoring 120 groundwater wells and the blackwater streams across 3 coastal dune lake watersheds. Her research has important implications for land management and future research concerning these globally rare lakes.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
- Corporate Sales and Marketing Manager for Smith Tractor Company
Billy Danielson is the Corporate Sales and Marketing Manager for Smith Tractor Company, a John Deere dealership. He is involved in community events including Farm to City and the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce and is on the board of the Atmore Chamber of Commerce. He has a passion for bringing awareness to the communities of all ages, the different aspect of agriculture, and the impact it has on our economics as well as everyday life. He is married to Brandy Danielson and has a daughter named Bailey.
Job Titles:
- Professor and Center Director
Job Titles:
- Agricultural Assistant II
Job Titles:
- Biological Scientist III, Turfgrass
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Professor and Teaching Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Doug Hatfield has a cattle and hay farm in Santa Rosa County. He is retired from the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center after 35 years of service.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Faculty Advisor
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Laboratory Technician III, Watershed Management
Job Titles:
- Laboratory Technician III, Wildlife
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Iza is pursuing her Ph.D. in entomology under the supervision of Dr. Paula Moraes. Her research integrates field trials, laboratory bioassay, and the use of molecular tools to study the ecology and toxicology of Lepidoptera pests in Florida. Her hobbies include crochet, hiking, painting, and reading.
Job Titles:
- Professor and Associate Center Director
Job Titles:
- Laboratory Technician III, Turfgrass
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Jimmie Jarratt graduated in 1998 from the University of Florida with a BS degree in Natural Resource Conservation. She currently serves as an Urban Forester & County Arborist under the direction of Escambia County's Water Quality and Land Management Division. As the County Arborist, Jimmie works with other County departments on protected tree issues, directs urban tree planting projects, coordinates land management activities and promotes a watershed approach to the development of a quantifiable and sustainable urban tree canopy. She received her ISA Arborist Certification in 2006 and became ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified in 2013.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
- President of Coastal Machinery Company
Joe Meeks is the President of Coastal Machinery Company, a local farm and construction equipment dealer covering the Florida panhandle and lower Alabama. He is a board member on Kubota Tractor Corporation's national strategic planning board. Joe and his wife Donna enjoy living and working on their small 20 acre farm in Beulah.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
John is interested in conservation and management of bottomland hardwood forests. He aims to apply his professional experience to research associated with a multidiscipline effort in slough restoration of the Apalachicola River floodplain.
Job Titles:
- Maintenance Generalist II
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Laboratory Technician III, Forestry
Job Titles:
- Maintenance Generalist II
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Mickey Diamond is a third-generation farmer at JM Diamond Farms in Jay, FL. JM Diamond Farms consists of cotton, peanuts, soybean, wheat, and timber. Mickey is married to Lisa and has a daughter named Lauren.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
- Owner of Milton Tastee Freez
Mike Thomas is the owner of Milton Tastee Freez and a co-owner of Grover T's BBQ Restaurant. He is also the owner of Pathway Learning, a leadership, team-building, and assessment organization. He also owns the Blackwater Olive Grove.
Job Titles:
- Laboratory Technician III, Weed Science
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
- County Extension Director for UF / IFAS Extension
Nick Simmons serves as the County Extension Director for UF/IFAS Extension in Escambia County Florida. Nick is the administrative lead for all faculty, program assistants and staff for Escambia County Extension. He provides guidance and vision for programmatic planning and to serve as the liaison between faculty & staff and county government as well as university administration. Nick completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Animal & Dairy Sciences from Mississippi State University in 2009. He completed his Master of Science degree in Animal & Dairy Sciences from Mississippi State University in 2012.
Agustin is pursuing a Ph.D. in Turfgrass Science with an emphasis on ecology, plant physiology, environmental stresses, fertilizers, and turfgrass management. His dissertation project focuses on better understanding the influence of anthropogenic ecosystems on factors such as groundwater recharge, nutrient fate, temperature abatement, and carbon dynamics
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
- Franchise Owner and Financial Advisor at Ameriprise Financial
Rick Paschall is a franchise owner and financial advisor at Ameriprise Financial since 1999. Prior to that, he was a Chief Petty Office in the US Navy. He serves on the board of directors for Independence for the Blind of West Florida and the Santa Rosa County Fair. He also is member on the Agri-Plex Oversight Committee. He is a member of the Black Water Pyrates, Milton Lions Club, and the Navy League. Rick is married to Terry Paschall and has two daughters, Nick and Rebecca, and four grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Support Assistant III, Events
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Sherri is interested in native bee conservation and will be studying the Gulf Coast Solitary Bee, Hesperapis oraria. She will also be studying the ecology of pollinators that co-occur with the bee including interactions with it's host plant Balduina angustifolia. Hesperapis oraria is endemic to the dunes of the Northern Gulf coast of Florida, Alabama and a few locations in Mississippi and is believed to be monolectic with Balduina. In her free time, Sherri enjoys being a Master Beekeeper and Welsh Honey Judge while tending her own hive and educating others about the importance bees of all kinds.
Job Titles:
- Senior Laboratory Technician, Environmental Horticulture
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
Trent Mathews is a 2002 graduate of the University of Florida with a BS in Forest Natural Resources. He is a District Conservationist for the United States Department of Agriculture - Natural Resource Conservation Service and the owner/operator of Sweet Season Farms LLC. Trent is active in many community and agriculture organizations and has held leadership positions in the Escarosa Young Farmers and Ranchers, Florida YF&R State Leadership Group, Santa Rosa Young Professionals and served on Advisory committees for Farm Credit of NWFL. He has been married to Sharon for 12 years and they have four children Morgan, Lucas, Laney and Caleb.
Yogendra is interested in the use of cover crops as a sustainable management practice to improve cropping systems. His research focuses on the study of short-term benefits of cover crops including nitrogen credit, soil moisture management and weed suppression. I am also working on the industrial hemp project to quantify hemp yield response to various nitrogen rates in Florida as a part of best management practices to promote industrial hemp production in the region.