September 30, 2024
Interdisciplinary plant science team garners $750,000 undergraduate training grant
An interdisciplinary faculty team has earned a $750,000 grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA, to train undergraduates in agricultural plant science. The program will be led by the department of plant pathology, with lead PI Megan Kennelly and co-PIs David Cook and Myron Bruce. The project includes 27 mentors from eight departments across three colleges.
The title of the project is “Team Plants: Developing tomorrow’s leaders in agricultural cropping systems through cross-disciplinary research and extension experiences,” and it will fund cohorts of 10 undergraduates per year for five summers starting in 2025.
The nine-week summer program will include independent research and extension projects ranging from genetics/molecular biology to field-scale production and ecology; professional development in communications, ethics, teamwork and leadership; field trips to view crop production and cutting-edge research methods and facilities, including interactions with growers, extension educators and industry scientists; workshops in gene editing, data visualization and technology; and a capstone poster session.
The project expands on a prior four-year training grant where 33 students from across the U.S. were trained in four summer cohorts. The mentoring faculty are in agronomy, entomology, horticulture and natural resources, plant pathology, biology, biochemistry, biological and agricultural engineering and chemical engineering.
The mentors include Eduard Akhunov, Ross Braun, Ignacio Ciampitti, Giovana Cruppe, Timothy Durrett, Ryan Hansen, Katherine Jordan, Dal-Hoe Koo, Sarah Lancaster, Sanzhen Liu, Brian McCornack, Shahideh Nouri, Judy O’Mara, Yoonseong Park, Jessica Rupp Noller, Kathrin Schrick, Ajay Sharda, Vaishali Sharda, Kristopher Silver, Brian Spiesman, Chris Toomajian, Harold Trick, Barbara Valent and Ruth Welti. Additional K-State faculty will contribute to workshops and tours.
This project is supported by the Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates program area priority in the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s Education and Workforce Development program — grant no. 2024-68018-42431 and project accession no. 1032359— from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.