Bio
Brandon is a member of the Bioresource Science and Engineering Group within ORNL's Environmental Sciences Division. His expertise lies in integrating agro-ecosystem models with multi-scale observations to address problems within the Food-Water-Energy nexus. At ORNL, his research quantifies the resilience of poplar and switchgrass biofeedstocks by leveraging cutting-edge physiological data from genetically diverse populations to simulate regional projections of yield, water use, and soil health required by the downstream Techno-Economic Analyses and Life-Cycle Assessments (TEA/LCA).
As a member of the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, he is characterizing the range of poplar drought resilience mechanisms with greenhouse and common garden observations to inform a model-driven suitability analysis of select poplar genotypes on marginal lands across the US. As a member of several ORNL LDRD projects, he is developing near-term iterative forecasting loops to link greenhouse and field scale data with biogeochemical models to understand soil carbon and nutrient cycling and their downstream influence on biofeedstock productivity. Finally, he uses agro-ecosystem modeling to assess the viability of several oilseeds as cover crops in the Lower Mississippi River Basin as part of a project.
Before joining ORNL, Brandon received his PhD from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities under Professor Xue Feng exploring the explanatory and predictive modeling of ecosystems under soil water stress. He also worked for a few years as a Water Resources Engineer in Minneapolis focusing on agricultural drainage, bridge hydraulics and urban stormwater design. Before that, he received his MSc from the University of Iowa studying the hydrologic impacts of agricultural tile drainage.
Professional Experience
Water Resources Engineer (EIT), Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, 2013-2016.
Education
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, PhD in Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering (minor in Mathematics), 2023
University of Iowa, MSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2013
Unversity of Wisconsin-Platteville, BSc in Environmental Engineering, 2011