Dr. Juliet Marshall is the Associate Director of the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station within the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Idaho. As a Cereals Extension Specialist in plant pathology and agronomy, she has served the growers and cereal industry for more than 32 years in southeastern Idaho, supporting the Land Grant University mission at the Aberdeen Research and Extension Center since 1992. Dedicated to grower success, she was awarded the Joe Anderson Idaho Wheat Commission Endowed Chair in 2013 and the Idaho Barley Commission Service Award in 2016.

As a cereal agronomist, Dr. Marshall conducts research on a wide range of issues affecting the wheat and barley industry, from variety development and selection to end-use quality, providing timely updates about threats from disease organisms to assist growers in management practices. Throughout her career, Dr. Marshall has been involved in all three legs of the land grant tripartite mission, teaching undergraduate courses, mentoring graduate students in research, and providing extension programming. 

As Department Head for Plant Sciences, Dr. Marshall became the first southern Idaho-based head of a CALS academic department, offering a clear signal that the college’s field-based faculty members have demonstrated expertise and achievements equal to colleagues based on the Moscow campus.

Dr. Marshall fondly remembers six enriching years at the University of Delaware, earning a bachelor’s degree in plant sciences in 1986 (magna cum laude) and a master’s in plant science/plant pathology in 1988, investigating the insect-fungal interactions affecting corn production. She was awarded the J.B.

Turner fellowship to study at the University of Illinois, where she earned a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology in1992, investigating the genetics of resistance in an oat-crown rust pathosystem.

Dr. Kirk Scheckel is the Associate Director for Science in US Enviromental Protection Agency’s Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response. He provides leadership for conducting applied, customer-driven, national research and development programs to improve decision-making by EPA, state, Tribal and local agencies that face challenging problems in the built environment.

Kirk joined US EPA in 2000 upon graduation from the University of Delaware as a Federal Postdoctoral Fellow and was hired to a permanent research role in 2001. Dr. Scheckel moved up the ranks as a researcher through technical qualification promotions. 

In 2018, Kirk combined his research with management as a Branch Supervisor for six months before accepting the role of Director of the Land Remediation and Technology Division for nearly five years. 

Dr. Scheckel assumed his current senior executive role in 2024, where he serves as the primary advisor to the Center Director and Office of Research and Development senior leaders and provides guidance to and oversight of the Center’s research program related to exploring risk management alternatives that protect human health and environmental quality from contaminants in various media.

During his career, Dr. Scheckel has mentored eight postdoctoral associates to successful individual careers, emphasizing becoming ideal team members—smart, humble, and productive. Kirk has authored more than 250 refereed publications and 40 reports and he holds three patents. He has received numerous awards in his career, including USEPA Gold Medals and selection as a Fellow in two professional societies. Kirk is nationally and internationally recognized for his research on lead and arsenic in soil, sediments and waste materials, coupled with advanced spectroscopic techniques to elucidate reaction mechanisms that influence fate, reactivity and bioavailability in the environment, leading to effective and economical remediation strategies. 

He earned a bachelor’s degree in agronomy at Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in soil science at the University of Delaware.