Meet the Team
Professor Jennifer Bousselot leads the College of Agricultural Sciences Green Roof and Urban Agriculture Program. Her team is made up of 8 graduate students and researchers, who all contribute to developing new and innovative methods to enhance urban spaces using solar energy and vegetation.
Jennifer Bousselot
Assistant Professor of Horticulture + Landscape Architecture
Dr. Jennifer Bousselot started studying the synergisms of green roof and solar panel systems in 2007. She recorded a TEDx talk entitled Rooftop Agrivoltaics in 2020. Jen now oversees research on the CSU Spur rooftop agrivoltaics research facility in Denver.
Brian Adams
Brian Adams is a graduate student at Colorado State University currently completing a Master of Science in horticulture. His research is focused on medicinal herbs grown in rooftop agrivoltaic systems under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Bousselot. Prior to attending CSU, Brian worked as sales manager for Altius Farms in Denver, Colorado, and served twelve years in the US Army and Army National Guard. Brian is a graduate of the Veterans to Farmers Program, where he explored both controlled environmental agriculture and small land organic farming. He enjoys volunteering at local farms and community gardens with his daughter every summer.
Maria Chavez
Maria is a postdoctoral fellow in the Bousselot and Craver lab. She is originally from New Mexico and received her B.S. in Horticulture and Conservation Ecology at NMSU. She went on to receive her M.S. in Entomology and Agroecology at UW Madison and her PhD in Ecology at CSU.
Eliza Gross
Eliza is a graduate student at Colorado State University pursuing a Master of Science in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. She is researching four varieties of chile peppers growing in a rooftop agrivoltaic system at CSU Spur. Eliza previously studied psychology as an undergrad, and worked in the mental health field for 4 years before pivoting her career towards plants. In 2020 Eliza moved to Colorado to pursue an education in Horticulture and began working in the nursery and greenhouse industry. She hopes to continue finding ways to use her experience and passion for plants to positively impact her community.
Allisa Linfield
Allisa is a graduate student researching nursery container production of Colorado and regional native plant species. She provides native plant education to the community through leading Colorado Native Plant Master courses and is the Horticulture Program Coordinator for CSU Extension in El Paso County.
Izzy Rodelius
Izzy is a first year Masters Student who received her B.A. in Environmental Sustainability from Western Colorado University and is originally from Evanston, IL. Prior to joining the lab, her research was focused on plant and pollinator interactions in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. She is now studying how to ensure we are making the most of green roof spaces for human and pollinator use.
Kyle Ruszkowski
Kyle (He/Him) is a PhD student co-advised in the lab of Dr. Jennifer Bousselot. He is interested in plant-pollinator interactions, with a focus on native plants and bees. His past work focused on plant phenology and floral nectar resources on green roofs and his current work continues to focus on the plant-pollinator interface within urban ecosystems and the surrounding areas.
Amanda Salerno
Amanda Salerno, M.S., is a Graduate Research Associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University. She attained her master’s degree in Horticulture from CSU, studying “Quantitative Analysis of Runoff in Green Roof Structures in the Colorado Front Range,” and is conducting her Ph.D. research studying Green Roofs and Bioretention Cells as a stormwater management tool.
Armando Villa-Ignacio
Armando Villa-Ignacio is a graduate student at Colorado State University under Dr. Jennifer Bousselot studying rooftop agrivoltiacs. He studied Conservation Biology at SUNY-ESF and has been interested in the relationship between people, plants, and sustainability.