Ryan Nedd, Ph.D, has been hired as an extension specialist 1 at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
In this role, he will help manage the UAPB Discovery Farm Educational Center on the university’s campus. Funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s 1890 Capacity Building Grants Program, the center aims to attract undergraduate students, as well as children and youths, to careers in agriculture.
Nedd will report to Tomekia White, Ph.D, outreach director of the Discovery Farm Educational Center. His responsibilities include managing animals, maintaining pastures and equipment and collecting water-quality data.
He will also assist with the center’s outreach, education and research efforts, including conducting tours and leading workshops on water quality conservation, animal science laboratory sessions, and on- and off-campus farm demonstrations. Additionally, he will mentor student workers on the farm and assist graduate students with their research.
Nedd has been involved with the Arkansas Discovery Farms Program since 2019. The project consists of privately owned farms where water quality research is conducted. As a technical assistant for the program’s Mississippi River Basin Initiative, he conducted soil sampling and monitored edge-of-field water runoff on row crop farms.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Previously, Nedd served as an extension associate for the UAPB Small Farm Program. He provided farmers with information about the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and assisted with enterprise budgeting and farm planning. In that role, he also contributed to the Arkansas Discovery Farms Program by conducting water sampling and promoting the use of cover crops to control nutrient and sediment runoff.
From 2013 to 2016, he was a senior extension officer for Partners of the Americas in collaboration with Caribbean Self-Reliance International in Georgetown, Guyana. There, he trained community members in hydroponic and natural vegetable production using containers and shade houses.
Earlier in his work with Partners of the Americas, he helped design and implement Farmer-to-Farmer projects to assist producers, processors and exporters in Guyana.
Nedd has a doctorate in environmental science from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a master’s degree in agricultural regulations from UAPB and a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the University of Guyana.
He has published articles and delivered presentations at national agricultural conferences on his research interests, which include land use and land cover change, plant science and horticulture and energy use and policy.
Nedd received several academic honors during graduate studies, including second place in the life sciences category at the 2023 FAMU Student Research Forum and third place in the graduate poster competition at the 37th Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences National Conference in March 2023.
In April 2022, he earned second place in the poster competition at the FAMU Graduate Conference. In May 2021, he was awarded third place at the National Technical Association conference on agricultural sustainability. He was also a recipient of the Latin AmericanCaribbean Scholarship beginning in 2020.
Will Hehemann is an extension specialist for communications with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences.