Juan Ricardo Rocha

During his undergraduate studies, he engaged in several research activities in soil science and plant nutrition. He completed a mandatory internship at the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Agency of the State of Rondônia (EMATER-RO), in Ji-Paraná, and at the Chemistry Laboratory of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rondônia (IFRO), Colorado do Oeste Campus. He earned a masters degree in Tropical Agriculture from the Graduate Program in Tropical Agriculture (PPGAT) at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES CEUNES), focusing on soil fertility, conservation, and management, as well as soil physics. During this period, he led undergraduate research teams in field activities.He completed a Ph.D. in Agronomy (Crop Production) at São Paulo State University (UNESP), where he also served as a teaching intern in the disciplines of Forage Plant Nutrition and Plant Physiology for Agronomy and Biosystems Engineering courses. For his teaching performance, he received the PAADES Outstanding Contribution Award in Higher Education. He was also a member of the Plant Nutrition Research Group (GENPLANT-UNESP), coordinated by Prof. Dr. Renato de Mello Prado, focusing on nutritional strategies to improve plant tolerance to abiotic stress.He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture (CENA/USP), where he develops a project funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), aimed at defining a fertilization protocol for energy cane (Saccharum spp.) to enhance the sustainability of the sugar-energy sector.Since February 2025, he has also been a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, working in the Crop and Fertiliser Agroecology group, led by Prof. Susanne Schmidt. In this group, he collaborates on projects focused on the development of more sustainable agricultural systems through innovations in fertilizer technologies, enhanced nutrient use efficiency (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus), and the mitigation of environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions. His current work also involves using the APSIM model to evaluate nutrient management strategies and simulate scenarios for energy cane production under tropical conditions, contributing to the advancement of climate-resilient agricultural practices. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)