Castro

Joseph Castro

PhD Candidate
Department of Plant Biology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Research Interests:
Global change and plant phenology and photosynthesis modeling, tropospheric ozone, carbon cycle

PhD Research:
The global change research field is extremely encompassing of the scientific community and allows for a great deal of interdisciplinary collaboration. I am working on developing a reliable soybean phenology prediction method which will be integrated into the photosynthesis modeling and simulation system WIMOVAC (Windows Intuitive Model of Vegetation response to Atmosphere and Climate Change), an integrative and scaleable model of plant response to climate change predicted from mechanism. This model of vegetation carbon balance allows non-specialist users to vary parameters and mechanistic assumptions and allows the outcome of ecosystem responses to climate and atmospheric changes, particularly elevated levels of tropospheric [CO2] and [O3], to be examined in an uncomplicated manner

Education / Research Experience:
2003-      Graduate Student, UIUC. Advisor: Stephen P. Long (Trees and Global Change)
2003        B.Sc., UIUC (Honors Biology and Biochemistry)
1999-2000 UIUC. Dr. Janeen Salak-Johnson; Studied the effect of cold stress on lung macrophages of young swine
2001-2002 UIUC. Dr. Daniel Bush; Helped develop a screen for mutants of Arabidopsis to identify the major genetic factors influencing root architectural response to nitrogen deficiency.
2001       UIUC. Dr. Doug Gubler; Studied infection patterns of Pheoacremonium (pathogenic fungi) and its effects on young grape vines as part of a plant pathology project.

Academic Awards and Honors:

McNair Research Fellow; Summer 2000
Alliance for Graduate Education Program Fellow; Summer 2001
Kimberly-Clark Research Fellow; Summer 2002
Monsanto Minority Summer Research Fellow; Summer 2002,
National Society of Collegiate Scholars Member; Initiated 2001
Golden Key Member; Initiated 2001

Presentations:

Castro JC, Zhu X-G, Naidu SL, Long SP. 2005. Rising CO2 and tropospheric ozone directly alter phenology-a factor for models. Poster Presentation. Modeling Ecosystem Responses to Global Change: Techniques and Recent Advances, TERACC Annual Meeting. Fort Meyers, FL.

Castro JC, Dohleman FG, Zhu Xinguang, Long SP. 2005. Rising tropospheric CO2 and ozone directly alter plant development. Oral Presentation. Symposium of Graduate Students in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. University of Illinois, Urbana, IL.

Castro JC, Long SP. 2004. Simulating soybean phenology using computer modeling. Oral Presentation. Precipitation and Ecosystem Change Network (PRECIPNET) Graduate Summer Workshop. University of California, Santa-Cruz,CA.

Castro JC, Dohleman FG, Miguez F, Long SP. 2005. Improving Projections of Atmosphere-Ecosystem Carbon and Water Exchange for Midwest Cropland in Response to Rising Tropospheric Carbon Dioxide and Ozone: Part I – CO2 delays reproductive development in Soybean. United States Department of Energy Global Change Education Program End of Summer Workshop. Washington D.C.

Please feel free to contact me with questions and comments.

379 Edward R Madigan Laboratory
1201 W. Gregory Dr.
Urbana, IL, 61801
Phone: (217) 244-6317
Fax: (217) 244-7563 c/o Dr. Steve Long
Email Joe

Stephen Long Lab