Panhandle Research and Extension Center Staff Earn Promotions

The Panhandle Research and Extension Center is pleased to announce the promotion of four faculty members in 2022. Jeff Bradshaw and Karla Wilke earned promotion to full professor. Nevin Lawrence and Bijesh Maharjan earned promotions to associate professor and granted tenure.

Jeff Bradshaw was promoted to professor. Bradshaw started working for UNL in 2010 and was granted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2014. He earned his Associate of Arts and Sciences in biology at Illinois Central College, a Master of Science degree in zoology at Southern Illinois University, and doctorate in entomology and plant pathology at Iowa State University. Currently he is the Extension Entomology Specialist at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff.

Bradshaw’s research and extension program is focused on integrated pest management of crops and rangeland throughout the Central High Plains. Key projects have included pest insect surveys that have helped Nebraska growers better understand pest risk and his work to improve biological control options for growers have worked to find more economically and ecologically sound options for pest management in western Nebraska crops.

Karla Wilke was promoted to professor. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M and her Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in ruminant nutrition. She joined the Panhandle Research and Extension Center team in 2009 as the cow-calf, stocker management specialist.

Wilke’s research efforts have included developing alternative uses and salvage value for human consumption crops like sugar beets and field peas for beef cattle, strategic supplementation of yearlings on grass, and maintaining production cows in confinement due to limited pasture resources. Wilke’s extension program has focused on helping cattle producers make research-based management decisions through individual consultations, web-based media, and planning and hosting the Range Beef Cow Symposium and State of Beef conferences.

Nevin Lawrence was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure. Lawrence received a Bachelor of Science in agroecology and a Master of Science in agronomy from the University of Wyoming, in 2009 and 2011, respectively. He earned a doctorate in crop science from Washington State University in 2015. Lawrence joined the department of Agronomy and Horticulture as an assistant professor in 2016 and is located at the Panhandle Research Extension Center in Scottsbluff where he serves as the Integrated Weed Management Specialist.

Lawrence’s research and extension focus is the development of weed management programs that leverage crop rotations and other cultural practices to supplement the sometimes-limited weed control options available in Western Nebraska. Specific projects include controlling herbicide-resistant kochia and pigweed species using multi-year integrated management plans, integrating cover-crops into crop rotations where establishment opportunities are limited, and developing tools to assist stakeholders with modeling the economic costs of using diversified herbicide-based weed management plans. Non-crop research and extension projects include the management of invasive weeds in rangeland.

Bijesh Maharjan was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure. Maharjan received a Master of Science in ecology from Moscow State University and a Master of Science in environmental engineering from the University of North Dakota. He earned a doctorate in land and atmospheric science (soil science track) from the University of Minnesota. Maharjan was a postdoc research associate in the department before he joined the department faculty as an assistant professor and a soil and nutrient management specialist at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff in September 2016.

Maharjan leads research and extension programs focused on improved soil productivity and precision nutrient management in irrigated, limited irrigation, and dryland crop and forage production systems in the NE Panhandle. His significant research and extension efforts include developing and revising soil and nutrient management for several NE Panhandle crops. Additionally, Maharjan represents Nebraska in the USDA Multistate Hatch committee NCERA 13 and NCERA 103 and is an active member of the Agronomy Society of America, Crop Science Society of America, American Geophysical Union, International Society of Precision Agriculture, Soil Science Society of America, and Soil and Water Conservation Society.

For more information on all Nebraska promotions and tenures, go to 2022 Promotion and Tenure.