Laura Pineda-Bermudez

Laura is a second year M.S. student in the Sosnoskie Lab through the Employee Degree Program. She attended Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and earned her B.Sc. in Environmental and Sustainability Sciences with a minor in Community Food Systems in 2018. She spent her high school years in Williamsport, PA (Home of Little League Baseball), has lived in 6 different states across the country, but has lived in Ithaca for the longest time.

After graduation, she began work in produce safety and extension at the National Good Agricultural Practices Program at Cornell University and has since continued to provide food safety training in English and Spanish while also conducting research on agricultural water quality, worker training, and needs assessments of produce growers.

As part of her M.S. degree, Laura is interested in understanding more about the obstacles that cole crop growers face in controlling weeds. She has completed an herbicide field trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sulfentrazone in broccoli and cabbage. Currently, she is collaborating on a project that aims to assess the interest and needs of cole crops and leafy greens growers in adopting novel weed control technologies across the United States. Her main role in this project is in developing the nationwide survey tool. Upon graduating, Laura is considering a variety of agricultural careers ranging from extension to policy or government work.