Faculty Members
Md Sazan Rahman, PhD
Team Lead, and Assistant Professor,
Department of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems (ANFS)
📧 mdsazan.rahman@unh.edu
🏫 Room 226, Kendall Hall, University of New Hampshire, 129 Main Street, Durham, NH 03824
Google Scholar Profile; Scopus ID;
Postdoctoral Fellows
Seunghyeon Jung, PhD
Dr. Seunghyeon Jung (Hyeon) is a postdoctoral fellow in EAE lab, and originally from Iseo-myeon, Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do 55365, Republic of Korea. Before joining EAE lab, He was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the SmartFarm Development Division at the Rural Development Administration (RDA) in South Korea, where I led research on heat and mass transfer in controlled environment agriculture. He has completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Agricultural & Civil Engineering from the Kyungpook National University, South Korea, and pursued his PhD in Biological Systems Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Lab/Research Assistant
Radhika Rani
I am a research/lab assistant in Dr. Rahman’s lab. I come from Punjab, India, often known as India’s breadbasket. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University and earned my Master’s degree in Agricultural Sciences from the University of New Hampshire.
At the University of New Hampshire, I worked under the guidance of Dr. Becky Sideman in the Department of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems. My research focused on improving the quality of seedless table grapes at the Woodman Horticultural Research Farm. I evaluated the effects of gibberellic acid (GA₃), a plant growth regulator, and cluster thinning on grape cluster and berry quality under different training systems.
Outside of research, I enjoy dancing, embroidery, and cooking.
Graduate Students
Md Hafizur Rahman
Md Hafizur Rahman is a PhD student in the Agricultural Science Program in the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems Department of UNH. He is originally from Tangail, Bangladesh. He received his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering and Master of Science in Agricultural Construction and Environmental Engineering (ACEE) from Sylhet Agricultural University (SAU) in Bangladesh. He joined as a faculty right after his graduation at SAU and taught many courses related to Environmental Sciences. At UNH, his research focuses on aerobic digestion-based heating system development and assessment to energize the controlled environment of agricultural facilities. He will use on-farm biomass to develop the aerobic digestion-based heating system.
| Md Robiul Islam Akondo |
Md. Robiul Islam Akondo is a PhD student in the Agricultural Science Program in the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems Department of UNH. He is originally from Sirajganj, Bangladesh. He received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Hons.) and Master of Science in Agronomy from Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) in Bangladesh. He was awarded the National Science and Technology (NST) Fellowship for MS Research from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Bangladesh. He worked as a “Scientific Officer” at the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of The People’s Republic of Bangladesh. His research interest is climate smart agriculture in controlled and semi controlled environment. He published several articles in national and international journals. He has more than 6 year’s research experience in Soil Science and Agronomy. At UNH, his research focuses on Investigation and Development of Novel Substrate for Enhanced Plant Growth in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).
Undergraduate Students
Kaitlyn Shelley
Kaitlyn Shelley is a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire, majoring in Biology within the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture department. Originally from New Jersey, she was drawn to New Hampshire for its rich natural landscapes and opportunities to engage with the environment. Kaitlyn has experience as a Research Assistant, where she conducted field research on coastal plant species impacted by wave activity on Appledore Island, assessing ecological resilience and growth patterns. She also presented research on coastal plant ecology and climate-related challenges. Kaitlyn is excited to be working in the Engineering for Agri-Environment (EAE) Laboratory and looks forward to contributing to ongoing research efforts.
Lillian Deily-Swearingen
Lillian Deily-Swearingen is an undergraduate student from Massachusetts majoring in Environmental Science: Soil and Watershed Management. She has spent many years on the more physical side of agriculture, honing her agricultural skills, and has now turned to begin research at UNH to experiment and develop a better understanding of plant growth and science.
Joss Ebersole
Joss Ebersole is a freshman undergraduate student from Beverly, Massachusetts, double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Sustainability. She plans to pursue a career integrating engineering principles with real-world environmental solutions. With this opportunity, she is excited to kickstart her research career and develop her technical and research skills while collaborating with peers to address environmental challenges through practical design.