Ben Sword Email & Phone Number

Somerville, MA, US

Richmond, Virginia, United States

Growing delicious and crispy hydroponic lettuce in 1.4 acres of greenhouse. Coordinating the food safety plan for a happy and healthy crop and customer experience.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Optimized protoplast isolation, transformation, and regeneration of cotton cells through multifactorial design of experiments.Developed an Agrobacterium transformation pipeline for plant callus and organelles.Conducted design of experiments & advanced statistical analysis through JMP, ImageJ, Python and R.Analyzed omics data for targeted learnings of.

Troy, New York, United States

Designed and conducted multifactorial design of experiments to optimize mycelial growth for both mycelium-based bacon and leather products.Inventor of 2 provisional patents improving aerial mycelium growth at scale.Proficient in a lab environment utilizing sterile technique, bioreactor operation, material properties testing and detail-oriented data.

Troy, New York, United States

Iporanga, São Paulo, Brazil

Discovered and isolated novel species of bioluminescent mushrooms hidden in the Atlantic rainforest of Iporanga.Developed novel methods of isolating, propagating and fruiting mushrooms while utilizing sterile technique.Engineered high-humidity growth chamber hardware effective at fruiting previously uncultured species of bioluminescent mushrooms.

Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States

Knowledgeable in light mapping, nutrient recipe creation, IPM strategy creation, feeding and flushing schedules, etc.Highly proficient in all cannabis cultivation tasks (cloning, pesticide spraying, scouting, defoliation, topping, transplanting, green waste and cleaning).Cross trained in other departments such as harvest, trim, and packaging.

Ithaca, New York Area

Raised $120,000 to develop and manufacture herb garden prototypes now deployed to customers.Developed 2 patent pending technologies for automatically and organically growing plants inside of a sustainable home-appliance.Responsible for plant pod development and manufacturing, building strategic partnership, and botanical research and development.Extensive.

Ithaca, New York Area

Under Dr. Matthew Willmann, I learned how to utilize sterile technique to develop a callus inducing protocol for industrial hemp. This includes seed sterilization, agar media prep and intensive note taking for repeatability.

Ithaca, New York Area

I conducted a multitude of experiments related to hydroponics and Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). These experiments included utilizing electrolysis to deliver oxygen to the root zone, nutrient infused hydroponic medias, zeolite, fertilizer trials and additives, pH balancing, variety trials and mycorrhizal inoculants. Many of these experiments.

Under Dr. Carmen Catala's Lab, I performed advanced lab techniques, such as RNA extraction, ran PCRs, made gels and ran electrophoresis. I also worked in the greenhouses pruning tomatoes and collecting samples.

Under Dr. Julie Hansen I harvested and collected data samples from research plots of alfalfa in the field. I crossed specific populations of alfalfa plants using in-lab insect pollinators. I conducted general field and greenhouse labor. I will be cited in the lab’s scientific paper for my agronomic research on industrial hemp.

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Under Dr. William Miller and Rose Harmon I learned basic lab and greenhouse maintenance skills as well as advanced lab techniques such as Gas Chromatography and data collection.

Pascoag, RI

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Plant Sciences, 3.8 Gpa

Activities and Societies: Pi Alpha Xi - Plant Science Honors FraternityMagna Cum Laude

Education record