NSF fellowship allowing Purdue postdoc to expand possibilities for others

“In ecology, a lot of work is going out into nature, going into the field, and I know how hard it is if you have a physical disability of some kind,” Halloway said. “I’ll be trying to reach out to a variety of people with disabilities to show them what’s possible. I feel an immense responsibility to use this as an opportunity.”

Halloway will use his research funding to explore mutualism, a relationship between two organisms in which they both benefit. He’s looking at the mycorrhizal fungi that live symbiotically with plant roots in soil. The fungi receive sugars and other carbon compounds from the plants, who trade in exchange for nitrogen, phosphorus and minerals from the fungi.

He’ll study that in greenhouse experiments where he can change conditions to see how mutual relationships change. By modeling the interactions, he can then predict how forests or ecosystems might adapt under changing conditions.

“I want to understand the environmental and ecological conditions that lead to the evolution of these relationships,” Halloway said.

The NSF describes its fellowship as “a very prestigious award that provides critical support at an early career stage” that went to around 100 awardees this year. Despite the rarity of the awards, Gord McNickle, an assistant professor of botany and plant pathology and whose lab Halloway works in, isn’t surprised that Halloway received one, partly because he received the graduate student version of the award not too long ago.

“I wanted to say it’s like lightning striking in the same place twice, but that’s a random occurrence,” McNickle said. “Abdel is brilliant. He didn’t luck into these. He earned them. He’s going to go places.”