Vinayak Shedekar recently joined the Soil, Water and BioEnergy program as Research Associate II. He obtained his undergraduate and Masters’ degree in Agricultural Engineering from India, and is about to complete his doctoral degree from the Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering at Ohio State University.
Vinayak’s primary area of work is agricultural soil and water management. His professional skills involve GPS surveying, GIS-based database management, and field monitoring techniques, as well as programing and modeling of agro-ecosystems. He has more than 12 years of research experience in water management, hydrologic and water quality modeling, and soil health assessment. He has also been involved with teaching undergraduate and graduate level classes at OSU, and Extension activities such as the Overholt Drainage School, Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference, and several soil health and sustainable agriculture workshops.
As a Research Associate, Vinayak will be actively involved in the research, education and Extension activities of the Soil, Water and BioEnergy program. His primary responsibilities will consist of managing the field research and using different techniques to collect, process and analyze soil, water and plant samples related to agroecosystem services. He will also help manage externally-funded grants, mentor exchange graduate students, and supervise lab and field researchers.
Vinayak is a diehard Buckeye fan and enjoys watching sports, especially football and basketball!