Julie Grossman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota, specializing in soil fertility of organic cropping systems. She is the UMN Organic Coordinator, organizing organic research, outreach and teaching efforts across campus. Her group’s research emphasizes improved management of plant-soil-microbe relationships in organic systems, especially the use of legumes to help provide nitrogen to horticultural crops. Julie did her graduate work at the University of Minnesota, and holds an M.S. in Soil Science and a PhD in Agronomy and Plant Genetics. Prior to returning to Minnesota in 2014, Julie was an NSF post-doctoral fellow at Cornell University, then a faculty member in Soil Science at North Carolina State University. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband and three children, where they enjoy cross-country skiing and hiking in their beautiful state.