Purdue University College of Agriculture

Aspiring to become a marine biologist wasn’t all that unusual among her peers in Honolulu, says Sienna Ogawa, an Oahu native whose interest in sea creatures led her to study biology and biochemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno. “In Hawaii, there’s not a lot of basic plant research, so I always associated plant sciences with farming or soil science — more applied, which is not necessarily where my interests were,” she says. Like Purdue, the biochemistry department at University of Nevada, Reno is housed in agriculture. In her junior year, Ogawa was introduced to plant sciences through undergraduate research in a plant molecular biology lab, and her interest moved from the sea onto land. She applied to plant biology PhD programs across the country but specifically wanted one that would allow her to rotate through multiple plant biology labs before choosing the right fit. In fall 2019, she entered Purdue’s PULSe program and began the rotations that led her to join the lab of Sharon Kessler, associate professor of botany and plant pathology.

For many people, summer is a time to travel to some of America's most iconic places: our 400 national parks. According to the National Park system, 325.5 million visits were logged last year, an increase of 4% over 2022. The parks remain highly sought-after travel destinations that require continual updating to provide a great experience for all guests.

Biologists originally classified the lesser and greater prairie chickens of the Great Plains as two different species. Difficult to distinguish by their physical appearance alone, some scientists have wondered for decades if these grouse consist of only one species. An accurate understanding of prairie chicken speciation gained new urgency in 2022, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the lesser prairie chicken as endangered in the southern portion of its range.