Dr. Jason Ferrell has been faculty at the University of Florida IFAS since 2004. In that time, Dr. Ferrell has conducted over 400 extension meetings, written over 200 articles for extension newsletters and trade magazines, published 100 refereed scientific articles and mentored 19 graduate students. He has served as the editor for the Journal of Aquatic Plant Management since 2013. In 2017, he became the Director of the UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants (CAIP). He also serves as director of the Pesticide Information Office, provides oversight of this office and stays in regular communication with the state regulatory body, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and other stakeholder groups.

Dr. Bultemeier earned a B.S. in Biology and Environmental Studies from Manchester University in 2005, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Agronomy (Weed Science) in 2008 and 2012 from the University of Florida. From 2012-2019 he worked in private industry, focusing on aquatic plant management and directly training field personnel. Joining the Pesticide Information Office in 2019 he is tasked with training and certifying licensed pesticide applicators in the state of Florida. Brett will be responsible for developing new outreach materials to educate on all aspects of pesticide use and safety. He is very excited to be back at the University of Florida and to use his vast field experience to train and certify the next generation of pesticide applicators. Go Gators!

Dr. Emily Kraus began her higher education in Entomology at Purdue University. There, she focused on both biological control and medical entomology. She continued to her M.S. at Kansas State University maintaining her studies on mosquito-transmitted disease. She then served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa. Upon her return, she resumed her studies by working in integrated pest management in rice production at Louisiana State University. She did her postdoctoral fellowship at Rhodes University in South Africa where she again studied biological control. This experience set her up nicely for a position with FDACS as a Biological Scientist and subsequently her current role as a UF Extension Scientist for pesticide knowledge and safety at the Pesticide Information Office (PIO).