Weeds with Karla

Integrated Weed Management

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About Dr. Gage

Karla Gage is an associate professor of weed science and plant biology in the Schools of Agricultural Sciences and Biological Sciences at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC). She completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology at the University of Memphis and a doctorate in plant biology with a focus on weed ecology at SIU.

She joined the faculty at SIUC in 2015 and enjoys teaching and research in applied management of agricultural systems. Her weed science research lab at SIU focuses on weed control in Midwestern U.S. cropping systems in the rotational crops of corn, soybean, wheat, sorghum and industrial fiber/grain hemp. She works with five graduate students and an associate scientist, Eric Miller, to conduct field trials, through which the team evaluates herbicide efficacy on troublesome weeds and layer integrated weed management (IWM) practices onto our herbicide programs.

During the past 10 years, she has given over 60 outreach presentations to farmer audiences to convey research results at events such as the Better Beans Series. She has been funded annually by the United Soybean Board since joining the faculty at SIU for multiple projects, and I currently also have funding from organizations such as the Multi-Regional Soybean Checkoff, Illinois Soybean Association and USDA. With her students and staff, she conducts applied research to answer farmer questions about the management of herbicide-resistant weeds, providing value to farmers in southern Illinois and across the Midwest. “I look forward to learning more about the challenges you face with weed control, so that we can design future projects to solve these problems,” Gage said.