Participating Faculty

AgSTEM Program Team

Participating Faculty

Meet the faculty and academic partners supporting AgSTEM educational modules, hands-on learning activities, and agriculture and food technology outreach

Our participating faculty bring expertise in agricultural engineering, food systems, automation, sensing technologies, and STEM education to create engaging learning experiences for students and educators.

Faculty member photo

Bobbi Mahfood

Dean of Educational Services

Coalinga College

CTE and Society, Culture, and Public Safety

Faculty member photo

Leili Afsah-Hejri

Program Director

Lakeland University

Food Safety & Quality, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Food Safety & Quality

Faculty member photo

Reza Ehsani

Professor, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

University of California, Merced

Agricultural Automation, Agricultural Sensors, Mechanical Harvesting Systems

Faculty member photo

Samantha Schmidt

Business Instructor

Coalinga College

Pedagogy, Andragogy, and Motivational Psychology

Collaborative STEM Learning for Agriculture and Food Technology

The AgSTEM faculty team works together to connect classroom learning with real-world technologies used in agriculture, food systems, automation, sensing, and post-harvest innovation.