Students

Congratulations August 2022 Graduates!

11Aug

The Department of Soil and Crop Sciences would like to congratulate our newest graduates for the Spring 2022 semester! We are proud of you for the efforts you have made throughout your time with the department and wish each of you the very best in the next phase of your life!

Undergraduate Students

Joshua Kostroun, B.S., Plant and Environmental Sciences
Ross Mikolajczyk, B.S., Plant and Environmental Sciences

Graduate Students

Conlan Burbrink, Master of Science, Agronomy
Jamshaid Junaid, Ph.D., Plant Breeding
Ammani Kyanam, Ph.D., Plant Breeding
Xiaoqing Shen, Ph.D., Agronomy
Homa Zarghami, Ph.D., Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences

Congratulations Spring 2022 Graduates

10May

Undergraduate Students

Steven Accrocco – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Grace Bodine – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Soil and Water Emphasis
Steven Botello – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Jaycie Braune – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Cameron Colvin – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Aaron Cormier – B.S. Turfgrass Science
Eduardo Jose De La Garza – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science
Koehler Doucette – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Keaton Emerson – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Lane Grymes – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Hanna Insley – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Soil and Water Emphasis
Mackenzie Jeter – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Kurt Korenek – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Ty Korenek – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Ariana Lazo – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Soil and Water Emphasis
Jessica Loera – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Andrew McFarland – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Soil and Water Emphasis
Christopher O’Brien – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Soil and Water Emphasis
Ty Riley – B.S. Turfgrass Science
Cosme Rodriguez – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Brody Schmalriede – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Andrew Stolte – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Crops Emphasis
Kathryn Watkins – B.S. Plant and Environmental Soil Science, Soil and Water Emphasis

Graduate Students

Alper Adak – Ph.D. in Plant Breeding advised by Dr. Seth Murray.
Ilse Barrios Perez – Ph.D. in Molecular Environmental Plant Sciences, advised by Dr. Dirk Hays.
Sudip Biswas – Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, advised by Dr. Endang Septiningsih
Aya Bridgeland – M.S. in Plant Breeding, She is advised by Dr. Endang Septiningsih
Annalee Epps – M.S. in Soil Science. She is advised by Dr. Julie Howe and Dr. Peyton Smith.
Aditi Pandey – Ph.D. in Soil Science. She is advised by Dr. Paul Schwab.
Bishwa Sapkota – Ph.D. in Agronomy. He is advised by Dr. Muthu Bagavathiannan
Megan Shawgo – M.S. in Plant Breeding – Non Thesis option
Nicholas Shepard – M.S. in Plant Breeding – Non Thesis option
Nicole Shigley – M.S. in Soil Science. She is advised by Dr. Peyton Smith
Rajan Shrestha – Ph.D. in Agronomy. He is advised by Dr. Curtis Adams and Dr. Nithya Rajan.
Binita Thapa – Ph.D. in Soil Science. She is advised by Dr. Jake Mowrer.
Braden Tondre – M.S. in Agronomy. He is advised by Dr. Steve Hague.

Redmon, Adak Receive Vice Chancellor’s Awards in Excellence

14Jan

Congratulations to Larry Redmon, Ph.D. and Ph.D student Alper Adak who received Vice Chancellor Awards in Excellence this year. These awards recognize the commitment and outstanding contributions displayed by faculty, students and staff members across Texas A&M AgriLife.

Extension Education Awards

The Extension Specialist or Program Specialist Award was presented to Larry Redmon, Ph.D., professor and associate department head and AgriLife Extension program leader. Redmon’s educational presentations and seminars bring participants into the conversation, along with his expertise and ability to entertain audiences. The Ranch Management University, which draws participants from around the world, is one example. Evaluations have proven the annual event is highly effective in helping people adopt ranch management practices and land stewardship with an economic impact of $84 million. Redmon also spearheads the Bennett Trust programs. One of these programs caters specifically to women, providing them with the knowledge needed to make land stewardship and natural resource management decisions. Many attendees are new landowners and have little knowledge of where to begin with land ownership.

Research Awards

The Graduate Student Research Award recipient was Alper Adak, a doctoral student in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. Since enrolling in his doctoral program in 2018, Adak has been the primary author of four peer-reviewed research articles, greatly exceeding the standard for students in his department. He has given invited talks at international conferences and been sought out as a peer reviewer for publications in his field. One of his accomplishments was to conceive of and create a way to utilize unmanned aircraft systems data from the corn breeding and quantitative genetics program to predict yield and flowering times. However, his primary project is to identify genes responsible for the late flowering of Texas A&M AgriLife germplasm in northern climates. His poster on that work won first prize in the largest division at the Crop Science Society International Meeting in 2019.

A full list of awards was announced in AgriLife Today.

Soil and Crop Sciences students among new student ambassadors at Texas A&M University

15Sep

Three students in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences here at Texas A&M are among the 11 selected to serve as ambassadors for the university.

Christopher Barron, Grace Bodine, Ariana Lazo, and the other ambassadors will share their Aggie pride and experiences as undergraduates with current students, as well as prospective students and their parents.

Student recaps summer internship with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension water programs

7Aug

By: Beth Ann Luedeker

For ten weeks this summer, Chase Murphy, a junior majoring in ecological restoration, participated in a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension internship program in water resource protection and restoration. He recently discussed his experiences with faculty, staff and students via Zoom.

three people by creek with testing equipment

As part of the internship, Chase Murphy (kneeling) collected water samples and conducted tests on the Mill Creek near Bellville with Ed Rhodes and Gabriela Sosa of TWRI. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension photo by Ward Ling).

A main component of the internship, and a favorite part for Murphy, was sampling water quality in the Mill Creek Watershed near Bellville. Through a contract with Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI), he participated in two sampling runs, and had the opportunity to use the same equipment used by water quality professionals. He took field measurements including transparency, water temperature, conductivity, pH, and dissolved oxygen, to name a few, and helped collect water samples for testing at the analytical laboratory.

Murphy also helped measure water flow in deep and shallow portions of the creeks using a river surveyor. This “boogie board” uses a Doppler flow sensor coupled with GPS to obtain highly accurate flow data.

“The river surveyor is calibrated by waving it around in the air,” Murphy said with a smile. “When they first told me to do that, I thought they were just hazing the new guy.”

young man with small raft covered by electronic equipment

Chase Murphy with the river surveyor used to collect flow data from the Mill Creek. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension photo by Ward Ling)

The internship included much more than the fieldwork. Murphy also received professional trainings, including learning how to manage and update the Texas Watershed Stewards (TWS) and the Mill Creek Project websites. He helped record audio and video clips explaining the basics of a watershed, and posted the video on YouTube. He also served as a “second pair of eyes” to review and proof contracts, press releases, and other documents.

Each week, Murphy met with the specialists to discuss different aspects of watershed management and topics that aligned with his desire to explore environmental consulting as a career. This information could help him stand out among other graduates when he is ready to enter the job market.

“One of the biggest things I got out of this internship is the relationship,” Murphy said. “Everyone worked very hard to help me and I learned a lot about the steps to take after college.”

Intern Chase Murphy keeps an eye on the river surveyor as Ed Rhodes of TWRI records measurements sent by the device. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension photo by Ward Ling)

“Though there are many benefits to an internship such as this, one unique aspect that comes to mind is our genuine desire to provide applicable, real-world experience,” said Michael Kuitu, AgriLife Extension Program Specialist in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and one of the mentors for this internship. “We try our best to task an intern with the same, or similar, work we are doing so they may get applicable experience. Moreover, we try to ensure an environment in which they may ask questions pertinent to a career field they are interested in exploring.”

Murphy is the fourth student to go through the internship program, and while his experiences were similar to his predecessors, his internship was undeniably impacted by the ongoing pandemic.

“For most of the summer I was unable to be on campus, so a lot of the work had to be done from home,” Murphy said. “On the sampling trips, we all had to take separate vehicles.”

“Unfortunately Chase missed out on the conversations that happen in the office and on the way to sampling sites. There is no good substitute for those spontaneous interactions,” said Ward Ling, formerly a program specialist with Soil and Crop Sciences and now with Texas Water Resource Institute.

Chase also missed the opportunity to present to a live audience at a TWS program, but he did get to be part of the video.

“I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to experience the full capacity of the internship due to COVID, but I was able to make the most of the internship because everyone wants you to succeed,” Murphy said. “They answered countless questions and gave me a lot of advice.”

Murphy highly recommends this internship to other students and offers this admonition – “don’t be afraid to ask questions. Everyone is here to help.”

Two Texas A&M students named Borlaug Scholars by plant breeders association

3Jul

By: Beth Ann Luedeker
Two students from the Texas A&M University’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Tia Dunbar and Ammani Kyanam, were among those named as Borlaug Scholars for 2020 by the National Association of Plant Breeders, NAPB.

“Both Tia and Ammani’s resumes reveal outstanding students with the potential to follow closely in the footsteps of Dr. Norman Borlaug in relieving hunger and poverty through plant breeding,” said Don Jones, chair, NAPB Borlaug Scholars committee.

The scholars program is named after Dr. Norman Borlaug, a plant breeder known as the Father of the Green Revolution.

The NAPB Borlaug Scholarship awards are given to exceptional students aspiring to careers in plant breeding and genetics and who have a strong desire to contribute to the improvement of the plants that we all depend upon for our daily needs, according to NAPB.

This is especially critical in this age of continually increasing populations, climate change and uncertain global food security – issues Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution and also a plant breeder, cared about deeply. Plant breeding uniquely addresses these challenges through applied research and improving technologies, according to the association.

Dunbar is a master’s student under Michael Thomson, Ph.D., professor and HM Beachell Rice Chair with Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Kyanam is a doctoral student working with Bill Rooney, Ph.D., AgriLife Research Faculty Fellow and sorghum breeder.

Each wants to help improve agriculture through plant breeding, but they are approaching it from different angles.

Tia Dunbar

Dunbar is working to optimize “in planta” gene-editing techniques using nanotechnologies, while Kyanam is mapping quantitative trait loci, or QTL, for sugarcane aphid tolerance and evaluating a chemical male gametocide.

Tia Dunbar

“Most gene editing methods for crop improvement require time and labor-intensive in vitro tissue culture techniques,” Dunbar said in her application. “Bypassing the in vitro regeneration processes could facilitate gene editing and expand its use.”

“If we are successful, our optimized gene-editing protocol will enable accelerated improvement of rice,” Dunbar said.

While her research currently focuses on rice, Dunbar hopes to pursue a career that applies gene-editing techniques to a broader range of organisms.

“Growing up, my family did not always have access to healthy food, so I chose to major in plant breeding to learn more about crop improvement,” Dunbar said. “I see biotechnology as the key to manipulate agriculture to better serve the growing population and ease the suffering caused by hunger and malnutrition.”

Ammani Kyanam

Kyanam said she chose to pursue agriculture because of Borlaug, “but I chose plant breeding when I learned how direct an impact it had on the livelihoods of farmers, especially small farmers.”

Ammani Kyanam

As an undergraduate at the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University in Hyderabad, India, Kyanam participated in the Rural Agricultural Work Experience Programme, RAWEP, where she shadowed a small farmer for a crop season.

“My inquiries showed me that farmers had progressive views about purchasing seed, and the boon that was BT cotton,” she said. “It also helped that my father was a seed salesman, and I had learned how important quality seed is to a farming operation.”

Fortunately for Kyanam, she not only loved plant breeding as a subject, but also has a knack for it. Her current focus is streamlining the sorghum breeding process.

“For my doctoral research, I am testing a chemical gametocide, triflouromethanesulfonamide, to assess its potential in generating testcross hybrid seed,” she said. “Hybrid seed production relies on male-sterile seed parents, and the current process to develop those parents is tedious and time consuming.”

Kyanam plans to pursue a career in an applied breeding program, developing new breeding materials and commercial hybrids, as well as evaluating pre-commercial hybrids.

“My secondary goal is to work in science communication and to contribute to clearing up the misinformation that is so prevalent,” Kyanam said.
Students making a difference

Both young women are active outside the classroom as well.

Dunbar is an officer in the Texas A&M Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science chapter and the University’s Women in Science and Engineering organization. She is an active member of Texas A&M’s Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences and was on the organizing committee for the Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium in 2020.

Kyanam is a founding member of the Corteva Plant Science Series’ Student Advisory Council and a graduate student liaison for NAPB’s communication committee. She has chaired several plant breeding symposia at Texas A&M and was a founding officer in the Soil and Crop Sciences Graduate Organization.

Graduate student earns trip to the nation’s capital

25Feb

Rahul Raman, a doctoral student under Dr. Nithya Rajan, has been selected as one of 18 graduate students nationwide to receive the 2020 Future Leaders in Science Award. The award will be formally presented March 2, 2020, in Washington D.C..

The award includes a trip to participate in the annual Congressional Visits Day, hosted by the Agronomy Society of America (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), on March 3.

Rahul Raman has been selected as a 2020 Future Leader in Science.

During the visit, the participants will meet with members of Congress and advocate for food, agriculture and natural resources research.

Last fall, Raman and two other Texas A&M students were selected to participate in the Scientists Engaging and Educating Decisionmakers (SEED) ambassador program.

“My previous experiences as a Climate Science Advocate in Washington D.C. and as a SEED Ambassador will help me to discuss the gaps between science and policy effectively, and to help come up with ideas to merge that gap,” Raman said. “My intent towards this award was to get connected with policy-makers, understand the congressional legislative process, and then work with them on issues related to agricultural research and funding.”

After completing his Ph.D., Raman plans to return to India and work toward global food security with an international agency such as CGIAR/UN.

“For global food security, research is important,” Raman said. “But better policies and funding towards research are also important to achieve this goal.”

In many African and Asian countries, including India, food security is an issue. Raman believes that involvement with policy makers in the United States will help him better understand the processes and policies of other countries and organizations as well.

“My science advocacy experiences will help me to better communicate my work to policy-makers back in India, and to plan accordingly for the resources I will need to conduct my work,” Raman said.

FFA Agronomy Contest scheduled for March 28

12Feb

The Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University is hosting an Invitational Agronomy Contest for FFA members, Saturday, March 28, 2020, in College Station. The contest will include a general exam as well as testing the students knowledge in plant identification, pest identification and soils.

The contest will be based on the Texas FFA format and rules.

More information is included on this flyer:

Soil and Crop Sciences undergraduate’s internship initiates urban farm on campus

16Dec

Writer: Beth Ann Luedeker

Experiential learning enhances a student’s college experience and is a required part of the curriculum for undergraduates in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. The department offers internships and study abroad opportunities to help students meet this requirement. Broch Saxton, one of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences December graduates, created his own internship as a student leader and greenhouse project director with TAMU Urban Farm United (TUFU).

Seedlings are planted in the towers where they will remain until they reach maturity and are harvested. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

TUFU is an urban farm that utilizes vertical towers — Tower Garden — that produce high value/specialty crops in a space-conscious technique via hydroponic growing methods. The project started by Broch is housed in a greenhouse on the Texas A&M campus. It currently includes twenty-four towers on which a variety of produce was grown, and plenty of room to expand.

The urban farm project began as a collaboration between Saxton and Lisette Templin, an Instructional Assistant Professor from the Department of Health and Kinesiology.

“I have dreamed of running greenhouses in this form. Using the knowledge obtained from my degree, I want to help people have better access to greater food, all while engraining hydroponic farming into the university. My experience in this process has been completely driven by networking and passion. This, is what I want a career in,” said Saxton, who received his Bachelor’s degree in Plant and Environmental Soil Science Dec. 13.

“Hydroponics have huge potential to benefit many people,” he said.

Dr. Lisette Templin, second from right, discusses the closed-loop water system with Dr. Jacqui Aitkenhead-Peterson (L), Broch Saxton and Dr. David Reed (R) from the Department of Horticulture. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

“When I approached the Texas A&M Office of Sustainability with my idea of a vertical farm project, they suggested I partner with Dr. Templin, who had approached them with a similar idea.”

Templin has a tower garden on her patio, which feeds her family of four. She and Saxton envisioned a project that could potentially feed Aggie students and staff on campus. They submitted an abstract to the Aggie Green Fund and in January 2019 received a $60,000 grant and permission to use space in a greenhouse owned by the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology.

With the grant funds, Saxton and Templin purchased towers and the closed-loop watering system that provides nutrition to the plants, as well as 800 seedlings from an urban farm in Austin to use for their initial crop. They will be self-sufficient and seed their own plants for future endeavors.

The first crop included four different types of lettuce, kale, snap peas, snow peas, herbs, chard, bok choi, tatsoi and celery. They plan to expand the project to include peppers in the next round.

The team manages each tower individually to ensure that the pH of the water is appropriate for the stage of growth, and that the nutritional requirements of each plant are met.

Since it is an internship, and Saxton received college credit for his time with TUFU, he needed an advisor in the department. He reached out to Dr. Jacqueline Aitkenhead-Peterson.

two students putting seedlings in towers

David Hendrix, a biochemistry major, and Madison Mau, majoring in biomedical science, get hands-on experience through internships in the tower gardens. (Texas A&M AgriLife

“I had taken courses under Dr. Peterson and was impressed by her value as a teacher and her approach to education,” Saxton said. “She has the mentality of mentorship and guidance that I was looking for.”

Aitkenhead-Peterson was happy to serve as Saxton’s advisor for the project.

“The fact that this project was not research based was very unusual to me” she said. “However, this project is about feeding people and educating people on the possibilities of feeding themselves which I deemed to be a very important exercise.”

Produce harvested by TUFU was distributed by the 12th Can Food Pantry, a student-run program on the Texas A&M campus which serves all students, faculty and staff in need of assistance.

TUFU looks forward to continuing to support the 12th Can and hopes to expand to support student dining.

Students selected as SEED ambassadors

11Nov

Three graduate students from the Texas A&M University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences have been selected to take part in the Scientists Engaging and Educating Decision-makers (SEED) Ambassador program.

Holly Lane, a Master’s student under the supervision of Dr. Seth Murray; Mark McDonald, a doctoral student under the supervision of Drs. Katie Lewis and Terry Gentry; and Rahul Raman, a doctoral student under Drs. Nithya Rajan and Haly Neely, will be representing Texas A&M and our department for the next year.

The SEED Ambassador program is a year-long advocacy training program through the Agronomy Society of America (ASA), the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) providing an opportunity for participants to form trusting relationships with members of Congress.

Mark McDonald

Ambassadors will begin to work with members of the tri-societies science policy staff this fall to hone their advocacy skills which they will put into action throughout the year.

McDonald said his interest in the project came from his passion for science policy.

“I have attended the Congressional Visits Day with the tri-societies for the past two years and have been looking for a way to be more involved,” McDonald said. “I am excited about this program and the training it offers not only to practice being an advocate for science to lawmakers, but also for the opportunity to network with other students and professionals interested in science policy.”

Rahul Raman

“There has long been a gap between science and policy that affects common people. As a SEED Ambassador, I will help bridge that gap,” said Raman. “As a Ph.D. student with a science background, being trained in policy will help me deliver scientific outputs in a clear and understandable way to policymakers that could ultimately benefit society.”

Raman chose to participate in the program as a way to connect with policymakers to help him work with them on policy related to food security, sustainable agriculture and climate change.

Holly Lane

“By the end of this training, I hope to have a good understanding of the legislative process and be a fluent science communicator to policy audiences and society,” Raman said.

Like McDonald, Lane had previously participated in the Congressional Visits Day put on by the societies.

“I really enjoyed that process and felt like I had a knack for connecting with our policymakers,” Lane said. “I hope to expand on those skills through this program and become a better advocate for science.”