UT’S
TurfgrasS Experts
Get to know the turfgrass research scientists and students from the University of Tennessee who have devoted years to developing the safest pitches for FIFA World Cup 26.
Expertise and experience: John Sorochan leads UT turfgrass team
A top expert in turfgrass management, Distinguished Professor of Turfgrass Science and Management John Sorochan is leading a team of researchers at the University of Tennessee to ensure that the pitches at FIFA World Cup 26 are high quality, safe, and consistent. His team is charged with developing, installing, and managing 16 pitches and dozens of training fields across Canada, Mexico, and the United States for the most-watched sporting event in the world.
John is at the forefront of testing and technology in the turf industry. He unites his extensive knowledge of everything from turf maintenance to player-surface biomechanics to such a depth that it empowers grounds managers with detailed and, most importantly, relatable information. FIFA made an inspired choice when it chose John to lead their World Cup research initiative.
Paul Ashcroft
head of horticulture and playing surface operations for Arsenal FC, English Premier League
Sorochan has more than 30 years of experience in turfgrass science, beginning with his days as an undergraduate student at Michigan State University. There, he worked on a team that was installing the first natural grass field in a domed stadium for the 1994 FIFA Men’s World Cup. A smart suggestion he offered to simplify the assembly and transportation of the field caught the attention of his professors.
Now, in a full-circle moment, he is commanding attention on a global scale by leading a first-of-its-kind five-year research project in collaboration with FIFA to produce pitches that play safely and consistently across multiple climatic zones and stadium types.
Sorochan’s academic research focuses on optimizing turfgrass performance for sports fields, golf courses, and other high-traffic areas, exploring innovations in grass resilience, pest management, and sustainable maintenance practices. He has worked with professional organizations like the NFL Players Association and Major League Baseball and with soccer clubs around the world.
The impact of this collaboration with FIFA will produce far-ranging benefits for athletes at all levels—from the professional ranks down to youth leagues—and for the $60 billion-plus turfgrass industry.
Discover more about what makes John Sorochan the best in his field Get in touch with John SorochanTurfgrass research team
John Stier
John Stier
Associate Dean and Professor of Plant Sciences, Co-Principal Investigator
John Stier, associate dean of UT’s Herbert College of Agriculture and professor of plant sciences, has worked on two FIFA World Cups alongside Sorochan. In 1994, he was hired by Michigan State University to oversee the research and day-to-day development of the world’s first indoor portable sports turf. And it was Stier who hired Sorochan as a student worker.
Stier’s expertise lies in sports turf related to environmental issues and sustainability. His PhD research was on lighting systems and photosynthesis under reduced lighting conditions—for instance, in stadiums with domes. He says the pitches being built for FIFA World Cup 26 are very different from those in 1994: They are constructed faster, cheaper, and with better consistency in playing quality.
Becky Bowling
Becky Bowling
Assistant Professor, Extension Specialist, Co-Principal Investigator
Becky Bowling works with graduate students, focusing on varietal selection and evaluation of grass varieties such as Kentucky bluegrass, bermudagrass, and zoysia grass with regard to sustainable water usage. In her role as Extension specialist for turfgrass science and management at UT, Bowling travels across Tennessee to educate industry professionals on the science behind caring for turfgrass.
Bowling has provided consultation on irrigation water quality for the FIFA research project. She has also coordinated and facilitated Field Day events for which key partners in FIFA World Cup 26 traveled to Knoxville to hear research updates and visit research facilities.
Rhys Fielder
Rhys Fielder
Research Lead, Master’s Student
Growing up as a soccer fan, Rhys Fielder (BS ’19) had a desire to work in the sport but didn’t know about turfgrass science and management until he worked a summer job at a golf course where his coworkers were turfgrass interns. The ability to have a job outdoors was the initial draw to the industry, but the science soon captured Fielder’s interest.
Fielder manages the day-to-day operations and oversees experiments in the state-of-the-art indoor research facility at UT’s East Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center, where he is researching how to grow grass indoors by manipulating factors such as light and water.
Kyley Dickson
Kyley Dickson
Research Scientist, Co-Director of the Center for Athletic Field Safety
Research scientist Kyley Dickson (BS ’12, MS ’14, PhD ’17) has devoted his career to the study of sports turf management and finding ways to improve field playability, safety, and consistency. As co-director of the Center for Athletic Field Safety, his research focuses specifically on athlete interaction with turf and field testing.
That focus led Dickson and Sorochan to invent a testing device called fLEX to measure field performance and playability. The device—which mimics athlete-to-turf performance using a cleat with accurate foot sensors—has been used to test more than 120 fields, including several NFL fields, UT’s own Neyland Stadium, and the pitches where athletes will train and play the FIFA World Cup 26 tournament.
Dickson’s expertise is helping the UT team with the challenge of creating safe and consistent pitches across a variety of climates and conditions. His knowledge has been key in helping solve the problem of installing natural grass pitches in stadiums that originally contained synthetic grass.
Dillon McCallum
Dillon McCallum
FIFA Researcher
With a master’s degree in plant sciences and a focus in turfgrass pathology, Dillon McCallum (MS ’24) was tasked with figuring out how to lay natural grass on top of a synthetic field for the 2025 Club World Cup series. Using the fLEX Device and considering factors such as ball bounce, McCallum discovered the combination of floorings to best replicate natural root zones.
McCallum is now working to determine how to firm sod using different types of top dressing—an application of sand that is distributed over the surface of the turfgrass and brushed in the profile. He also works closely with the team on indoor turfgrass.
Conlan Burbrink
Conlan Burbrink
Graduate Research Assistant, PhD Candidate
PhD candidate Conlan Burbrink (BS ’20) is working to uncover successful methods for growing grass without natural sunlight using LED products to test how the color of the light affects plant growth and health. In his work for the FIFA research project, Burbrink has combined three passions into one: data science, statistics, and turfgrass. His goal is to answer more complex questions through techniques including machine learning, AI analysis, and statistics that aren’t generally used in agronomics.
Taylor Williams
Taylor Williams
FIFA Researcher
With no turf experience other than “mowing the yard on Saturdays” and a lifetime of playing sports, Taylor Williams (BS ’16, MS ’21) enrolled in UT’s turfgrass program after reading plant science flyers posted around campus. He spent his sophomore, junior, and senior years on the softball and soccer teams’ grounds crews at UT and completed an internship with the Baltimore Orioles in 2015.
Among other duties with the FIFA research project, Williams is helping to test pitches using the fLEX Device, invented by Sorochan and Dickson, to gather data about changes in traction and other factors. He also helps lead student work at the indoor research facility at the AgResearch and Education Center.
Our team investigated and found the best people in the world to help us, and it’s fair to say that with Alan Ferguson we had this vision and joined forces to do something where the focus is the World Cup and the Club World Cup but from which the whole world will benefit.
Gianni Infantino
FIFA president
Brandon Horvath
Brandon Horvath
Professor
When he’s not teaching the next generation of turfgrass scientists, Brandon Horvath spends his time studying the diseases of grasses. Horvath says 25 percent of his research takes place in the lab, with the remaining 75 percent in the field. His research ranges from investigating molecules with the potential to control a pathogen to determining the role of ultraviolet light on pathogen growth. Horvath has also developed an AI tutor to help his students learn the mathematics associated with the applications of fertilizers and fungicides.
Jim Brosnan
Jim Brosnan
Professor, Director of UT Weed Diagnostics Center
Between his work with UT Extension, teaching, and directing UT’s Weed Diagnostics Center, Jim Brosnan is Tennessee’s go-to resource when it comes to controlling weeds. He leads a team of graduate students in studying control of turfgrass weeds—particularly those resistant to herbicides—on the FIFA pitches.
“At the end of the day,” Brosnan says, “I want UT to be the place when someone has a turf problem—whether you’re in Tennessee or anywhere.”
Jamie Greig
Jamie Greig
Assistant Professor, Agriculture Researcher
Jaime Greig’s research focuses on technology adoption and decision making, primarily in rural communities. So, when Sorochan couldn’t get an internet signal through the metal dome structure of the indoor research facility at the AgResearch and Education Center building, Greig was his first call. Using his connections, Grieg was able to help establish broadcast Wi-Fi and cellular signals in the building. He also worked with Sorochan’s graduate students to determine what types of technologies would be most beneficial to their research.
Now Greig is constructing 360-degree virtual tours of the indoor research facility and outdoor turfgrass plots, complete with embedded video interviews and descriptive text. The project is part of outreach and education efforts that Greig hopes can serve as a career exploration tool for future students.
