Meet Dr. Nina Camillone

Dr. Nina Camillone completed her PhD in Soil Science and International Agriculture and Development (INTAD) at the Pennsylvania State University in 2023. Her passion for soil science sparked in 2016, when she spent six months in Nicaragua interning on a small-scale organic farm. During this time, she also reached fluency in Spanish! Besides growing all kinds of vegetables and tropical fruits, she also learned from her mentors the importance of soil cover, moisture, and organic matter for maintaining production in a time of climate change and drought.

Nina then returned to the United States to complete her bachelor’s degree in Biology from Wheaton College, IL, but was ready for more adventure before continuing her studies. In 2017-2018, she took a gap year to serve as a volunteer in Nepal through the Mennonite Central Committee, which placed her with a local non-profit called the Rural Institute for Community Development (RICOD). With RICOD, Nina visited many villages and farms in the foothills of the Himalayas and helped write reports for an initiative to improve nutrition of mothers and infants.

 

In 2018, she moved to Pennsylvania to study the relationship between soil health and soil microbes under Dr. Mary Ann Bruns. As a graduate student, Nina developed low-cost soil health tests and used DNA sequencing to study the soil microbial community on coffee plantations in Costa Rica through a collaboration with EARTH University. She taught many undergraduate students as a lab instructor, teaching assistant, and guest lecturer in both introductory and advanced soil science classes. In August 2023, she successfully defended her doctoral dissertation entitled, A bridge between the lab and the farm: pairing molecular evidence for microbial activity with practical indicators of soil health. To this day Nina is passionate about sustainable land management, soil microbes, and fostering healthy relationships between humans and the environment.

Nina now lives with her husband in Montreal, Canada, where her hobbies include crafting and baking. She joined AgriTech Corp. as Soil Health Expert in 2024 and is excited to help clients learn more about soil and meet their lawn and garden goals!