Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez
Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
Southwest Regional Office
Topic Areas: Environmental Policy, Soil Health, Environmental Chemistry, Bilingual Communications, GIS
Specific Areas of Expertise: Soil health, soil carbon and nitrogen, multiagency collaboration, outreach
Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez has a Master of Science in Agricultural, Environmental, and Sustainability Sciences from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from UTRGV with a minor in chemistry. She has worked on soil sampling and data collection for the NRCS Dynamic Soil Properties project. She has also worked as the South Texas Flood Outreach Specialist for the Texas Water Development Board and as a lab technician at the Texas Plant and Soil Lab.
Education:
M.S. Agricultural, Environmental, and Sustainability Sciences, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
B.S. Environmental Science, Environment and Society concentration, with a minor in Chemistry, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Previous Experience:
Graduate Research Assistant
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX
Conduct research and help gather data related to soil dynamic properties (DSPS) as part of the NRCS DSPS project. Focus on soil carbon and nitrogen response to strip tillage.
Research Assistant
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX
Processing soil samples, conducting heavy metal analysis, and doing translation of surveys, transcripts, and general data from English to Spanish.
Current Professional Affiliations and Committees:
Texas Floodplain Management Association
UTRGV Agroecology Lab