About us | METER Environment
Our environmental scientists have decades of experience helping researchers and growers measure the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Contributors to the articles on the METER website include:
Gaylon S. Campbell, PhD
Dr. Gaylon S. Campbell has been a research scientist and engineer at METER for 16 years following nearly 30 years on faculty at Washington State University. Dr. Campbell’s first experience with environmental measurement came in the lab of Sterling Taylor at Utah State University making water potential (soil suction) measurements to understand plant water status. Dr. Campbell is one of the world’s foremost authorities on physical measurements in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. His book written with Dr. John Norman on Environmental Biophysics provides a critical foundation for anyone interested in understanding the physics of the natural world. Dr. Campbell has written three books, over 100 refereed journal articles and book chapters, and has several patents. He is a recipient of the prestigious Fellow Award for outstanding scientific contributions from both the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA).
Colin S. Campbell, PhD
Dr. Colin S. Campbell is a senior research scientist with METER Group and currently serves as President and CEO. Following a Soil Physics Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, Colin has spent the last 26 years developing sensors to make measurements in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum and teaching these principles around the world. He serves on the boards of the American Society of Agronomy and Campbell Scientific, teaches Environmental Biophysics each spring at Washington State University, and is a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy. Together with colleagues, he works to solve problems related to climate change, ecology, and agriculture. His latest work focuses on combining measurement scales for a more complete picture of crop water availability.
Douglas R. Cobos, PhD
Dr. Cobos is a Research Scientist and the Director of Research and Development at METER. He also holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Washington State University where he co-teaches Environmental Biophysics. Doug’s Masters Degree from Texas A&M and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota focused on field-scale fluxes of CO2 and mercury, respectively. Doug was hired at METER to be the Lead Engineer in charge of designing the Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe (TECP) that flew to Mars aboard NASA’s 2008 Phoenix Scout Lander. His current research is centered on instrumentation development for soil and plant sciences and irrigation management.
Dave Brown, PhD
For 20 years as a faculty member at Montana State University and Washington State University (WSU) Dr. Dave Brown pursued research on soil sensors, spatial data science and digital agriculture. At both universities, he served in many leadership roles for major research projects, academic programs and most recently as Director of the WSU AgWeatherNet program. In this capacity, Dr. Brown hired and supervised a team of meteorologists who pursued research and extension activities focused on evaluating and improving the quality of weather data used for agricultural decisions.
Leo Rivera
Leo Rivera is a research scientist and Director of Science Engagement at METER Group. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Soil Science at Texas A&M University. There he helped develop an infiltration system for measuring hydraulic conductivity used by the NRCS in Texas. Leo is the force behind application development in METER’s hydrology instrumentation, including the SATURO, HYPROP, and WP4C. He also works in R&D to explore new instrumentation for field measurements of water content, water potential, and hydraulic properties of soil.
Chris Chambers
Chris Chambers is a Product Scientist at METER Group. He draws on over 15 years of experience as a support scientist, and his background in ecology and plant physiology to improve METER instruments and help METER’s clients collect the data they need to test hypotheses and make management decisions.
Jeff Ritter
Jeff Ritter is the Product Scientist for plant, canopy, and atmospheric monitoring instrumentation here at METER. He earned his master’s degree in plant physiology from Washington State University, where his research focused on leaf-level gas exchange, and the impact of plant biochemistry on the measurement of the global carbon cycle. Prior to working at METER, he held a research faculty position at Washington State University in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.
Lauren Bissey Crawford
Lauren Crawford has been the product manager of the soil moisture sensor line at METER for seven years. She earned her masters in Hydrogeology at Washington State University. Her early Ph.D. work in ecology at Washington State University and her background in environmental biophysics and hydrology help her to work with METER research scientists and engineers to develop soil moisture sensors and data loggers targeted to solve specific problems in agriculture and environmental research. She now serves as the Vice President of Sales.
Shaun Weldon
Shaun Weldon operates as the SATURO, HYPROP, and tensiometer product manager at METER Group, the world leader in soil moisture measurement. He has over seven years of experience helping researchers measure the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum.
Elizabeth Smith
Elizabeth Smith is the Product Manager for the complete line of ZL6 data loggers and ZENTRA Cloud platform. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s in Environmental Science from New Mexico State University and specializes in remote data acquisition. Currently, she is the force behind ZENTRA Cloud customer success.
Paolo Castiglione
Paolo Castiglione is a Principal Scientist with METER and has been part of the team for over a decade. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in hydraulic engineering, and his PhD in soil physics; all from the University of Naples Frederico II. Throughout his time with METER, Paolo has worked on several projects, involving dielectric, thermal and hydraulic measurements in soils. Most notably, he has developed a new technology for low-cost dielectric measurements, which yields accurate measurements in electrically conductive materials.
Morgan Parkinson
Morgan Parkinson earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Environmental Science from Brigham Young University, where she focused her studies on innovative methods to revegetate disturbed rangeland. She also helped manage BYU’s Environmental Analytical Laboratory which gave her a greater understanding and appreciation of soil science and the importance of working with great instrumentation. In her current role at METER, Morgan channels her passion for soil science into market research initiatives. She is dedicated to leveraging METER’s cutting-edge sensor technology to provide valuable insights for farmers wanting to increase crop yield and quality.
Questions?
We’d love to hear from you! Consult with our scientists to understand which measurement methods and best practices are right for your application.
