Graduate Spotlights

"My goal is to resume full time military service; that’s what I love doing. This degree is prepping me for that future: They want higher-level officers to have advanced degrees."

Austin Berenda
MS student, Ag Econ

Austin Berenda MS student, Ag Econ

"I’ve essentially switched my discipline in Microbiology three times, and I think that’s made me a very well-rounded scientist."

Nicholas Gallina
PhD student, Food Science

Nicholas Gallina PhD student, Food Science

“Insects can give us information, and help us solve cases and give people answers."

Teomie Rivera-Miranda
PhD candidate, Entomology

Teomie Rivera-Miranda PhD candidate, Entomology

"I’m motivated by the Extension mission, because it’s all about bringing nonbiased information to real people and real communities and changing lives for the better."

Mariah K. Stollar Awan
PhD student, ASEC

Mariah K. Stollar Awan PhD student, ASEC

"The most fascinating part of this field is the exploration of the unknown. What we do know is that this is going to benefit the whole world."

Zhihang Song
PhD student, ABE

Zhihang Song PhD student, ABE

"I love the process of going through protocols start to finish. You come in every day and say, ‘Nobody in the world knows this yet, and I’m going to try to figure it out.’"

Sarah Stanhope
PhD candidate, Biochemistry

Sarah Stanhope PhD candidate, Biochemistry

“From my research, we can formulate diets in the future based on digestible phosphorus to help improve the feed efficiency and mitigate excretion of nutrients, which will improve the sustainability of animal production.”

Vitor Santos Haetinger
PhD student, Animal Sciences

Vitor Santos Haetinger PhD student, Animal Sciences

“The potential of this probe — to limit pollution at the source while also helping farmers not only save money but more optimally fertilize their fields — is pretty amazing.”

Jhacolby Williams
MS student, Agronomy

Jhacolby Williams MS student, Agronomy

“I love the idea of finding something new, of learning something about plants that nobody has known before.”

Sienna Ogawa
PhD candidate, Botany and Plant Pathology

Sienna Ogawa PhD candidate, Botany and Plant Pathology

“My least favorite thing about science is working alone. I find ‘group think’ absolutely riveting.”

Frederick Mildenhall
PhD candidate, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture

Frederick Mildenhall PhD candidate, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture

“Each individual's whole genome, like a stretch of DNA sequences, is a record of evolutionary history of the species. It's our work as researchers to decipher that ancient history.”

Jong Yoon Jeon
PhD candidate, Forestry and Natural Resources

Jong Yoon Jeon PhD candidate, Forestry and Natural Resources

“Every time I come into the lab, I know that I’m going to be learning something new, and every day is a step forward towards understanding these novel drug delivery systems.”

Sophia Dasaro
PhD student, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Sophia Dasaro PhD student, Agricultural and Biological Engineering