Nell Campbell, Ecology Ph.D.
Chris Harbourt, Agricultural Engineering Ph.D.
Chris Harbourt, Agricultural Engineering Ph.D.
Sam and I worked together for over 3 years on a complex technical collaboration building science-based requirements into software. Because of her scientific background and training, she was my go-to for exploring new ideas and testing solutions against the practical reality of product development. Depending on what types of problems we we
Sam and I worked together for over 3 years on a complex technical collaboration building science-based requirements into software. Because of her scientific background and training, she was my go-to for exploring new ideas and testing solutions against the practical reality of product development. Depending on what types of problems we were facing, our work streams often required input from subject matter experts across different disciplines in a great variety of combinations. Sam always knew who needed to be in the room and how to synthesize the options, acting as a critical facilitator to collaborative problem-solving. She was also meticulous in keeping records, not only keeping development moving forward but also making sure we didn't lose track of where we were coming from. I greatly, greatly appreciated our time working together.
Chris Harbourt, Agricultural Engineering Ph.D.
Chris Harbourt, Agricultural Engineering Ph.D.
Chris Harbourt, Agricultural Engineering Ph.D.
Throughout the multiple projects and years that I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sam, she has always been a powerhouse of a scientist and technologist. Sam is diligent, thorough, and always prepared. Sam has a true knack for diving into new challenges with vigor while keeping the team informed, on track, and in good spirits. She’s th
Throughout the multiple projects and years that I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sam, she has always been a powerhouse of a scientist and technologist. Sam is diligent, thorough, and always prepared. Sam has a true knack for diving into new challenges with vigor while keeping the team informed, on track, and in good spirits. She’s the kind of inventive collaborator who makes even the toughest projects feel manageable, thanks to her steady balance and impeccable communication skills. When I’ve looked to level up a team balancing ambitious goals, Sam has routinely been one of my very first phone calls.
Jennifer Olson, Water Resource Science M.S.
Chris Harbourt, Agricultural Engineering Ph.D.
Jennifer Olson, Water Resource Science M.S.
Sam is a scientist at heart - she is a lifelong learner who asks great questions and doesn’t rest until there are answers that meet both her high standards and the needs of her team. She is often digging into new datasets, researching a burning question, or leading a team of scientists and engineers. She crafts communications that are eff
Sam is a scientist at heart - she is a lifelong learner who asks great questions and doesn’t rest until there are answers that meet both her high standards and the needs of her team. She is often digging into new datasets, researching a burning question, or leading a team of scientists and engineers. She crafts communications that are effective across functions and are meaningful to both technical and non-technical audiences. She also brings a broad perspective to projects, drawing critical connections between marketing, sales, project vision, technical work streams, and team resources.
Research & Development
Director of Research & Development (New Rotation Energy)
The Director role at New Rotation Energy (NRE) is an interesting change, since NRE is organized like a consulting firm, where we provide value to contracted clients. There is no formal engineering team, but we are responsible for building products to support our sustainability programs. Much like with Agrible, this Director multitasks by pitching in with any R&D work, including drafting wireframes of user journeys, contracting with engineers to build our product, supporting product strategy and visioning, and all while "keeping the development wheels" on the bus.
Director of Research & Development (Agrible Inc)
During my second year with Agrible, I was promoted to Director of R&D. It was my first "big girl" job, and I was anxious to make good. A Director of R&D wears many hats. I was responsible for the development efforts of the entire engineering team (then some 25+ people, including interns, full- and part-time staff, and third-party contractors) and the product release schedule and feature list, as well as ensuring that our R&D initiatives fulfilled the company and customer goals and objectives. A major component was guaranteeing that the daily emails that users received about their farm operations were sent on time and error free. (See image at left.) A significant achievement during my tenure as Director was transitioning the new Field to Market (FtM) sustainability product from paper concept to full software production release.
Scientist
Senior Scientist & Project Manager (Agrible Inc)
This blended role at Agrible was a lot of fun. I worked closely with the engineering group responsible for building the modules that performed the scientific analyses and agronomic modeling for a given field. The two biggest modules released involved yield and nutrient predictions to help growers understand how the crop season is going and if they needed to take preventative measures. This role required project management skills to deliver on time while also quality controlling the science results. During this time, my squad stood up an expanded Morning Farm Report 2.0 platform with numerous science-based agronomic quantification modules.
Research Scientist (Illinois Rocstar)
Illinois Rocstar was my first full-time position after graduate school/ postdoc fellowship. I was excited to join the team and share my chemistry expertise. One of my key responsibilities was submitting grant proposals to build products that fulfilled government need. The coolest one, by far, was the won grant that looked at chemical dynamics and physical degradation of Li-ion batteries (as shown in the figure). Over the course of my time with Rocstar, I generated approximately $1M in grant funding that we used to build novel science-based products of interest.