Matthew Ryan
I am a PhD candidate working with Dave Mortensen in the Weed Ecology Lab and am interested in agroecology. My research tends to focus on crop production systems, multifunctional agriculture, and ecosystem services. For my M.S. research, I quantified differences in weed-crop competition between organic and conventional cropping systems. My current research looks at strategically combining cultural weed management practices that interact synergistically to improve weed suppression in organic rotational no-tillage cropping systems.
Before staring my PhD program at Penn State, I worked at The Rodale Institute as a Research Agroecologist, where I conducted studies organic rotational no-tillage production and the use of compost tea as a plant disease suppression tool. I have B.S. in Environmental Biology from Kutztown University, an M.S. in Weed Ecology from Penn State.
I like to travel and have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Lammert Bastiaans at Wageningen University in The Netherlands. I recently completed my service as the Graduate Student Representative for the Northeastern Weed Science Society and belong to several other professional associations based in the US. I am also a member of the European Weed Science Society (EWRS) and have presented my research at several EWRS meetings in England, Germany, and Spain.
When I’m not working on my research, I enjoy gardening, mountain biking, snowboarding, and anything else that gets me outside.
Contact Matt.
Publications
- Ryan, M. R., D. A. Mortensen, L. Bastiaans, J. Teasdale, S. B. Mirsky, W. S. Curran, R. Seidel, P. R. Hepperly, and D. O. Wilson. 2009. Elucidating the apparent maize tolerance to weed competition in long-term organically managed systems. In preparation.
- Smith R. G., M. R. Ryan and F. D. Menalled. 2009. Direct and Indirect Impacts of Weed Management Practices on Soil Quality. in Soil Management: Building a Stable Base for Agriculture. Eds. Jerry L. Hatfield, National Soil Tilth Laboratory. In press.
- Ryan M. R., D. A. Mortensen, S. B. Mirsky, W. S. Curran, and J. R. Teasdale. 2009. Influence of Soybean Seeding Density and Cereal Rye Biomass on Weed Suppression. Proceedings Northeastern Weed Science Society. 63:30
- Ryan, M.R., D. A. Mortensen, and L. Bastiaans. 2006. Enhanced Tolerance to Weed Competition: Effects of Crop and Soil Management in a Long-Term Cropping Systems Trial. European Weed Science Society Crop-Weed Interactions Workshop. Rothamsted Research Centre, September 12–15. Pp 16.