Academic Research Partnerships — Line 4

Category: Business Structure Research Date: April 10, 2026 Status: Verified

Strategy for university research partnerships with UGA Extension, Auburn, App State, and Berry College: data sharing agreements, instrumented composting runs, and mutual benefits framework.

This list replaces the earlier "NC State primary, App State secondary" summary with real named contacts, email patterns, and a recommended outreach order. All contacts are people with published work in either mortality composting, soil microbiology, or sustainable agricultural systems relevant to Legacy Soil & Stone's process.

Outreach principle: soft email first. No ask for money, no request for a partnership, no attached MOU. Just an introduction, a one-paragraph description of the project, and a single specific question. Academics respond to thoughtful emails from non-academics when the question is narrow and the sender has clearly done homework. They ignore broad asks.

Recommended outreach order

1. Dr. Brian Campbell, Berry College — dark horse, lowest institutional friction, first email
2. Dr. Mahmoud Sharara, NC State BAE — trophy contact, primary mortality composting researcher in the Southeast
3. Dr. Ok-Youn Yu, Appalachian State University — Nexus Project, thermal management
4. Dr. Jeremy Ferrell, Appalachian State University — Nexus Project, co-lead
5. Jean Bonhotal, Cornell Waste Management Institute — author of the most-cited mortality composting guidance in the US
6. Dr. Mussie Habteselassie, UGA — in-state, soil microbiology
7. Dr. Miguel Cabrera, UGA — in-state, soil chemistry

Contact details

1. Dr. Brian Campbell — Berry College (Mount Berry, GA)

• Department: Environmental Sciences and Studies
• Why he matters: Georgia-based, small college, published on soil health and sustainable agriculture. Small-college faculty have more bandwidth for unsolicited outreach than R1 researchers. Mount Berry is ~90 minutes from the target land search area — a site visit is feasible.
• Likely email pattern: bcampbell@berry.edu (confirm via the Berry faculty directory at berry.edu/academics before sending)
• Sample opening line: "I'm developing a natural organic reduction process for small companion animals in the North Georgia mountains, and I'm trying to validate my temperature-profile protocol against the mortality composting literature. I noticed your work on soil health — would you have 15 minutes for a quick question?"
• Ask: one question about soil microbial succession during the curing phase.
• Budget for a site visit: $0 (Mount Berry is driveable) plus lunch.

2. Dr. Mahmoud Sharara — NC State Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering

• Department: Biological and Agricultural Engineering
• Why he matters: Currently the most-published mortality composting researcher in the Southeast. His lab has the temperature-profile data Legacy Soil & Stone needs to validate the 60–90 day boutique process against the standard 120+ day large-animal protocols. Co-author on multiple NC State Extension mortality composting guides.
• Likely email pattern: msharar@ncsu.edu (confirm via the NC State BAE faculty directory at bae.ncsu.edu before sending)
• Sample opening line: "I'm developing a small-scale vessel-based NOR process for pets under 40 lbs in North Georgia. I've read your work on poultry mortality composting. My question is narrow: have you seen temperature profile data for vessels under 80 gallons, or is that below the scale you've studied?"
• Ask: access to any published temperature-profile protocols for small-mammal composting, and (aspirationally) a 30-minute consulting call.
• Budget: $150–300 for a paid consulting call if he offers one; $500 for a campus visit if warranted.

3. Dr. Ok-Youn Yu — Appalachian State University, Nexus Project

• Department: Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, Nexus Project
• Why he matters: Nexus Project is already referenced in the existing LSS research as a thermal-management inspiration. Dr. Yu's focus on off-grid sustainable systems aligns directly with the solar stack and Mother Pile heat concepts.
• Likely email pattern: yuo@appstate.edu (confirm via the App State Nexus site at nexus.appstate.edu)
• Ask: guidance on integrating solar thermal with a small composting system in a North Georgia climate.

4. Dr. Jeremy Ferrell — Appalachian State University, Nexus Project

• Department: Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, Nexus Project co-lead
• Why he matters: Renewable energy integration lead at Nexus; co-author with Dr. Yu on multiple publications. A joint contact with Dr. Yu may be more efficient than two separate emails.
• Likely email pattern: ferrelljd@appstate.edu (confirm via the App State Nexus site)

5. Jean Bonhotal — Cornell Waste Management Institute

• Department: Cornell Waste Management Institute (CWMI)
• Why she matters: Author and primary maintainer of the Cornell mortality composting guides, which are the most-cited US references on the topic. Her work is the baseline the LSS protocol is being measured against. She's outside the Southeast geographically but is widely respected, and a single email from her can validate the approach to every other researcher on this list.
• Likely email pattern: jb29@cornell.edu (confirm via the CWMI site at cwmi.css.cornell.edu)
• Ask: narrow question about how the Cornell temperature-time protocol adapts to boutique vessel sizes.

6. Dr. Mussie Habteselassie — University of Georgia

• Department: Crop and Soil Sciences, UGA Griffin Campus
• Why he matters: UGA soil microbiology, in-state institutional connection. Lower prestige than NC State for mortality composting specifically but the in-state relationship opens doors for GATE certification conversations and Georgia Department of Agriculture introductions.
• Likely email pattern: mhabtes@uga.edu (confirm via the UGA CSS faculty directory at caes.uga.edu)
• Ask: introduction to the right person at Georgia Department of Agriculture for confirming composting is "method 5" under O.C.G.A. §4-5-5.

7. Dr. Miguel Cabrera — University of Georgia

• Department: Crop and Soil Sciences, UGA main campus
• Why he matters: Soil chemistry and composting research, primarily on larger-scale systems but with adjacent expertise. Worth contacting in parallel with Dr. Habteselassie.

Things to include in every opening email

• Short introduction (Mark Barnett, teacher in North Georgia, developing a natural organic reduction service for small companion animals)
• A sentence that shows you've read the researcher's specific work (not a generic "I saw you do composting research")
• One specific question — not a list, not a request for a meeting, not an MOU
• A polite close with no ask for follow-up if they're too busy

Things NOT to include

• Don't attach the business plan
• Don't mention pricing or revenue
• Don't ask for an MOU or partnership
• Don't ask for a letter of support
• Don't copy multiple researchers on the same email (they'll assume you're spamming)

Timeline

Phase 1 outreach: ~6 emails over 2–3 weeks, staggered by 2–3 days each. Expected response rate from unsolicited outreach to academics: 20–40%. Plan on 2–3 substantive responses from the 7 contacts.

Email pattern notes above are best guesses based on institutional conventions. Always verify each address via the institution's own faculty directory before sending — wrong addresses are worse than no address.