Dr. Logan Simon – Southwest Area Agronomist
Logan Simon joined the Western Kansas Research-Extension Centers in April 2024 as the Southwest Area Agronomist based in Garden City, KS. He grew up on a diversified crop and livestock farming operation in the rolling hills above the Mississippi River Valley in western Illinois, where he developed a passion for agriculture through his work on the family farm and involvement in Illinois FFA (2014 American Degree Recipient).
Simon received his B.S. in Plant Science (2017) from the University of Missouri and his M.S. (2021) and Ph.D. (2024) in Agronomy from Kansas State University. His graduate research focused on determining best management strategies for cover crops in the traditional dryland wheat-based cropping systems of western Kansas and the semi-arid central Great Plains through a combination of small-plot and on-farm experiments across the region.
In his extension role, Dr. Simon serves 26 counties in southwest and south-central Kansas. His applied research program focuses on dryland and limit-irrigated cropping systems to increase regional productivity, water use efficiency, economic vitality, and environmental sustainability. He can be reached by email at lsimon@ksu.edu.
Dr. Tina Sullivan – Northeast Area Agronomist
Tina Sullivan joined the Northeast Research and Extension Center in June 2024 as the Northeast Area Agronomist based in Manhattan, KS. Originally from southeast Tennessee, Sullivan was raised on a goat farm started by her late father and her mother in Bledsoe County. Surrounded by vegetable farms and smaller-scale row cropping and forage, agronomy had always been part of her life, even if it was not an initial interest of her youth. FFA during high school allowed her to branch out into topic areas and initial research endeavors through the Agriscience Fair and other career development events.
Sullivan graduated with her bachelor’s degree in agriculture – agricultural engineering technology and precision agriculture from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 2018. Working as a manager trainee for the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative stationed at the local branch of her home county led her down a path of wanting to go to graduate school for the intersections of agronomy and irrigation. This desire led her to Utah State University, where she did her master's and PhD with Dr. Matt Yost. Her graduate work focused on irrigation and cropping system management interactions in common and alternative forage systems. Additionally, Sullivan led some of Utah's first outdoor industrial hemp trials since the 1940s.
Responsibilities of this position include extension and outreach as well as applied research for the northeastern region of Kansas. This area comprises 31 counties, including the River Valley, Meadowlark, Flint Hills, and Central districts. Additional counties include Atchison, Brown, Dickinson, Doniphan, Douglas, Geary, Harvey, Johnson, Leavenworth, Lyon, Marion, Marshall, McPherson, Pottawatomie, Reno, Rice, Riley, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, and Wyandotte.
Outside of work, Sullivan enjoys hiking with her dog, Dottie, and baking bread and cookies. She can be reached by email at tsullivan@ksu.edu.
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