My work is grounded in the people who live and work in agriculture and takes a human-centered, systems-oriented approach to understanding agricultural work. My agenda advances a human-centered, systems-oriented account of agricultural work by analyzing how cognition, social organization, and work system capacity jointly shape safety and long-term viability in agriculture. My agenda is organized into three linked legs of focus or throughlines: I) cognitive friction and human risk, which explores how information is noticed, interpreted, and incorporated into decision-making; II) relational safety culture, which examines whether information is shared, trusted, and translated into safe action; and III) agricultural work systems resilience, which investigates whether the agricultural system has the people, skills, routines, and adaptive capacity to sustain safe work over time and respond to disruption.
Cognitive friction and human risk
My work on cognitive friction and human risk examines how people learn, interpret information, and make decisions in agricultural settings, particularly when working with tools, technologies, and complex systems. This line of inquiry focuses on how mental models, prior experience, and instructional design shape safety, learning, and behavior in agricultural education and training contexts. Across this work, I study when instructional approaches reduce confusion and risk, and when they unintentionally increase error, misinterpretation, or unsafe practice.
scholarship in this area include:
- Learning, cognition, and decision‑making in agricultural mechanics and STEM contexts
- Self‑efficacy, motivation, and locus of control among agricultural educators and students
- Safety perception, risk interpretation, and preparedness
- Instructional design, authenticity, and novelty effects in agricultural education
Primary Themes: learning, cognition, decision-making, risk interpretation
Representative publications or projects from my CV:
Lindner, J. R., Clemons, C. A., & McKibben, J. D. (2026). Artificial intelligence in education: Perspectives of secondary teachers. Advancements in Agricultural Development, 7(2), 109–124.https://doi.org/10.37433/aad.v7i2.637
McKibben, J. D., Clemons, C. A., & Blythe, J. M. (2025). Survey response rates by requestor’s characteristics. Advancements in Agricultural Development, 6(1), 43-54. https://doi.org/10.37433/aad.v6i1.525
McKibben, J. D., Hancock, G. H., Clemons, C. A., & Murphy, T. H. (2024). The Effects of “Novelty” on Project‑Based Methods: A Quasi‑Experimental Study of STEM Integration in Agricultural Mechanics. Journal of Agricultural Education, 65(2), 86–98. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v65i2.126
McKibben, J. D., & Murphy, T. H. (2021). The effect of authenticity on project‑based learning: A quasi‑experimental study of STEM integration in agriculture. Journal of Agricultural Education, 62(1), 144–155. http://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2021.01144
McKibben, J. D., Holler, K., Clemons, C. A., & Lindner, J. R. (2023). Locus of Control and Pedagogy in Skill‑Based Agricultural Mechanics. NACTA Journal, 67(1). https://doi.org/10.56103/nactaj.v67i1.88
Smith, D. N., Clemons, C. A., McKibben, J. D., et al. (2024). Perceptions and Preparedness: Teachers’ Self‑Efficacy for Including Students with Learning Disabilities in SAE. Journal of Agricultural Education, 65(4), 342–357. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v65i4.2841
Hendrix, R., McKibben, J. D., & Swortzel, K. (2024). Agricultural Educators’ Personal Teaching Efficacy Towards Individual STEM Subjects. Journal of Agricultural Education, 65(2), 306–321. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v65i2.2383
My research on relational safety culture focuses on the social and cultural conditions that shape safety, learning, and professional practice in agriculture. Rather than treating safety as an individual responsibility alone, this work examines how relationships, communication norms, leadership signals, and organizational structures influence whether risks are recognized, discussed, and addressed. This strand of research draws heavily on leadership, communication, and organizational perspectives within agricultural education and Extension.
scholarship in this area include:
- Collaboration, conflict, and departmental culture
- Leadership behaviors, emotional intelligence, and mentoring
- Communication expectations and writing practices in Extension and education
- Professional culture, trust, and safety norms in agricultural systems
Primary themes are: relationships, communication, leadership, and organizational culture
Representative publications or projects from my CV:
McKibben, J. D., Hyjeck, A., Clemons, C. A., Hancock, G., & Yopp, A. (2024). Serving to Learn: Increasing students’ self‑efficacy through service‑learning. NACTA Journal, 68(1). https://doi.org/10.56103/nactaj.v68i1.136
Hancock, G. T., McKibben, J. D., Byrd, A. P., Lindner, J. R., & Clemons, C. A. (2023). HEARING: Re‑evaluating interest, needs, and growth. Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health, 29(2), 109–120. https://doi.org/10.13031/jash.15331
Larkin, T. C., Lindner, J. R., Molnar, J. J., Clemons, C. A., & McKibben, J. D. (2024). Mobilizing a collective response: Farmer awareness of the Giant African Snail. International Journal of Agriculture and Technology, 4(4), 1–11. https://www.scivisionpub.com/pdfs/mobilizing-a-collective-response-farmer-awareness-of-the-giant-african-snail-achatina-fulica-and-its-impacts-on-trinidad-agricultu-3527.pdf
Clemons, C. A., McKibben, J. D., & Lindner, J. R. (2021). The masks we wear: Motivational factors of SBAE teachers during a pandemic. Journal of Agricultural Education, 62(2), 83–96. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2021.02083
Hancock, G. T., Hancock, C. E., & McKibben, J. D. (2024). Teaching techniques of traditionally and alternatively certified instructors. Journal of Agricultural Education, 65(3), 18–34. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v65i3.166
Agricultural work systems resilience
My work on agricultural work systems resilience examines the people, roles, skills, and structures that allow agricultural systems to function safely and adapt over time. This research focuses on workforce capacity, training systems, and institutional supports that sustain agricultural education, Extension, and community‑based work under changing conditions. This line of inquiry explicitly connects education, leadership, and safety to broader system viability.
Scholarship in this area include:
- Teacher recruitment, retention, and workforce readiness
- Agricultural mechanics as a safety‑critical work system
- Extension‑led disaster preparedness and community resilience
- Workforce development, technology adoption, and system adaptation
Primary themes: workforce, systems, capacity, adaptation
representative publications or projects from my CV:
McKibben, J. D., Giliberti, M., Clemons, C. A., & Holler, K. (2022). My Ag Teacher Never Made Me Go to the Shop! An Exploration of Preservice Teachers’ Self‑Efficacy in Mechanics Skills. Journal of Agricultural Education, 63(3), 283–296. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2022.03283
Williams, J., McKibben, J. D., Clemons, C. A., Cletzer, D. A., & Lindner, J. R. (2026). Foundations First: A Self-Determination Theory Analysis of Agricultural Education Teacher Well-Being and Retention. Journal of Agricultural Education, 67(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v67i1.2912
McKibben, J. D., Clemons, C. A., & Nurradin, M. (2022). Hybrid Vigor: Job satisfaction in SBAE. Journal of Agricultural Education, 63(2), 238–250. http://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2022.02238
Croom, D. B., Yopp, A. M., Edgar, D., Roberts, R., Jagger, C., Clemons, C., McKibben, J., McCubbins, O. P., & Wagner, J. (2023). Technical professional development needs of agricultural education teachers in the Southeastern United States by career pathway. Journal of Southern Agricultural Education Research, 73, 1-15. http://jsaer.org/2023/04/10/technical-professional-development-needs-of-agricultural-education-teachers-in-the-southeastern-united-states-by-career-pathway/
Ray, B. L., Clemons, C. A., McKibben, J. D., Lindner, J. R., Fuhrman, N. E., & Barlow, R. J. (2022). Implementing forestry and natural resources curricula in Georgia. A quantitative analysis of perceived barriers towards implementations. Journal of Agricultural Education, 63(3), 149-165. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2022.03149
Translational outputs
My current translational outputs include two patent‑pending systems that operationalize human‑centered and socio‑technical research in AI‑mediated learning and safety contexts with attention to interpretation, trust, and use in applied settings.
Clemons, C. A., & McKibben, J. D. (2026). Stochastic Intent Calculus™ (SIC): System and method for quantifying semantic drift via multi-agent contextual topology analysis. Auburn IPX/U.S. Patent Pending. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.- In Consideratin.
Clemons, C. A., & Haddad, B., McKibben, J.D., & Lindner, J. R. (2026). AI-GE2M™: System and method for privacy-preserving affective elicitation via deterministic vector mapping. Auburn IPX/University of Nebraska IP/U.S. Patent Pending. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office – In Consideration.