KSU Plant Pathology News: Spring Semester 2020

Spring and summer greetings to friends, alumni, and supporters of KSU Plant Pathology!

Spring 2020 was challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we as a department have been coping well. The University moved to limited operations status in mid-March, and all the teaching was shifted to remote instruction. The research operations were also minimized to only essential activities. Here in this newsletter, we would like to share with you some non-COVID-19 news.

Professors on Parade!

In January, the Plant Pathology Graduate Student Club kicked off the semester with the professors-on-parade event. The faculty members were given 3 minutes to tell the new students (and the whole department) about their labs and/or their career journey. It was a lot of fun!!!

Here are the faculty members who participated, and Dr. Kennelly played some violin melodies for the whole department. We would like to thank graduate students for hosting this fun event.

Awards and recognition

Barbara Valent elected to NAS

Barbara Valent was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). We are honored and proud to have Dr. Valent as our colleague. She is the first faculty member at K-State to be elected to the prestigious organization. The NAS elects members based on their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Dr. Valent is a University Distinguished Professor at K-State, and is a fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (APS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS). Dr. Valent has studied the rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae) for more than 40 years, and is currently focusing on a pathotype of this fungus that infects wheat.

Doug Jardine retires

After 35 years with KSU Plant Pathology, Doug Jardine is trading his Extension hat for a cycling helmet and a fishing pole. Dr. Jardine joined the Department of Plant Pathology as an Extension Specialist and Assistant Professor in 1985. Over the next 35 years, through promotion to Associate and Full Professor, he would build and lead an impressive Plant Pathology Extension program in the state of Kansas. His contributions to Extension and agricultural research did not stop at the state’s border. Dr. Jardine’s Extension work in grain sorghum attracted national and international recognition. In addition to his role as Extension Specialist, he also developed a strong applied research program which evaluated seed treatments for control of seedling diseases and contributed service to the profession of plant pathology. Dr. Jardine has been a member of the American Phytopathological Society (APS) and related societies throughout his professional career. In 2013, he was recognized as a Fellow of APS for his service to the profession. The field of plant pathology is a better place for Dr. Jardine’s participation. We wish him all the best in his retirement and hope to see him again from time to time in the department.

Jen Schlegel awarded President’s Award of Excellence

Jen Schlegel, our business manager, was awarded the 2020 President’s Award of Excellence. We are proud and fortunate to have Jen as our business manager. This award recognizes unclassified professional staff members who achieve excellence and/or make exemplary contributions to the mission and values of K-State. Jen is an essential member of the department and contributes significantly to the department’s excellence and productivity.

Paula Silva received Women in Triticum award

Paula Silva, a PhD student in Dr. Jesse Poland’s lab, was awarded one of the 2020 Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum awards from the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) and the Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat project. Paula is looking for novel sources of rust resistance in wheat.

BGRI announces 2020 Women in Triticum Awardees

Paula was also awarded the Alvin and RosaLee Sarachek Predoctoral Honors Travel Award in Molecular Biology.

Read more about the award: Alvin and RosaLee Sarachek Predoctoral awards

Nar Ranabhat awarded by Kansas Academy of Sciences

Nar Ranabhat received a graduate student research award from Kansas Academy of Sciences (KAS). Nar is investigating the dynamics of host-virus interaction between Wheat streak mosaic virus and winter wheat, under the guidance of Dr. Jessica Rupp. Nar will present results of research at a future KAS meeting.

Bliss Betzen and Victoria Cast recognized by Sunset Zoo

Bliss Betzen and Victoria Cast both received recognition as Science Communication Fellows in February through Sunset Zoo. As one part of this fellowship, Bliss and Victoria will be developing a personalized web page to engage multiple audiences with their work on Sunset Zoo’s Behind the Science website.

Victoria Cast also received a Certification of Professional Development for completing the Graduate Student Council Professional Development Program for 2019-2020 in April.

Five graduate students received the Tillman Family and Christine Lee Shepard Memorial Fund Awards

Selected graduate students were awarded The Tillman Family Agriculture Graduate Student Award and Christine Lee Shepard Memorial Fund Award. The Tillman Award perpetuates the memory of Marcia Edythe Tillman and other immediate family members to provide financial assistance to graduate students properly enrolled in the College of Agriculture at Kansas State University. The Shepard Award perpetuates the memory of Christine Lee Shepard and is given by former Department Head, James F. Shepard. The award provides funds for research in non-conventional approaches to crop improvement.

The recipients of this year’s Tillman Family Agriculture Graduate Student Award are Joel Steyer, Jun Huang, Afsana Noor, and Dylan Mangel. The recipient of the Christine Lee Shepard Memorial Fund for 2020 is Nar Ranabhat.

Four undergraduates received the Tillman Family Undergraduate Scholarship

Brock Hazelton, junior in agronomy; Abigail Parker, junior in biochemistry; Kenny Dodson, senior in horticulture; and Daniel Tran, junior in food science and industry, will receive the Tillman Family Undergraduate Scholarship, administered by the plant pathology department. These students have demonstrated outstanding academic performance in plant pathology minor or through plant pathology undergraduate research. Each student will be awarded $1,000 at the beginning of 2020-2021 academic year.

Daniel Tran, undergraduate researcher in Richard Todd’s lab, also won a $4,000 K-INBRE summer-semester scholarship for 2020-2021.

Fellers et al. 2019 was among the top 10 most downloaded paper in Plant Disease

A Plant Disease journal paper from John Fellers’s group was among the top 10 most downloaded papers in 2019. Other co-authors of the paper are Christian Webb, Madison C. Fellers, Jessica Shoup Rupp, and Erick DeWolf.

Personnel changes

New Faces

Heather Gardner joined us in January as a new Graduate Research Assistant pursuing her Master’s degree. From Wamego, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Horticulture from Kansas State. Under Dr. DeWolf, Heather is working with stripe rust on wheat. Her hobbies include running, weightlifting, and her favorite summer activity: fishing.

Dr. Divya Mishra started as a new post-doc under Dr. David Cook. She joins us from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. She received her PhD in Plant Molecular Biology from the National Institute of Plant Genome Research from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. She previously worked on unraveling the identity of key regulatory molecules and how they play an important role under high temperature conditions in common wheat. In her current role, she is working on research related to CRISPR-Cas13 development in plants and is working to design, implement, and test a new strategy to alter plant defense and growth. Her hobbies include traveling, listening to good music, making and enjoying food.

Ethan Faryna started as a Laboratory Administrator for the Poland Lab. Originally from Perry, New York, he received his Bachelor’s of Science in Biotechnology from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has worked in a variety of fields including working on his family dairy farm, pharmaceutical manufacturing, event timing, lab administration, and aquaponics. His current role involves managing supplies, organizing meetings, and processing samples for the molecular lab. His hobbies include running, mountain biking, traveling, and genealogy.

Sarah Bastian joined us as a Research Assistant under Dr. Alina Akhunova. From Newton, NJ, Sarah received her Bachelor’s in Biology (cellular/molecular emphasis) and Bachelor’s in Biological Science Composite Teaching with a minor in Chemistry Teaching from Utah State University. As an undergrad, she worked at the Center for Integrated Biosystems in the Genomics lab. She has also previously taught 8th and 9th grade science. Currently, she works for the Integrated Genomics Facility, helping out with DNA/RNA sequencing and quality control, NGS library prep for Illumina sequencing platforms, and miSeq based sequencing. Her current hobbies are exercising, hiking, biking, and spending time with her family.

We are happy to welcome Kelsey Andersen-Onofre as our new Assistant Professor/Wheat Extension Specialist. Kelsey is originally from West Long Branch, New Jersey. She received her Bachelor’s in Biology from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, her Master’s in Plant Pathology from the Ohio State University and most recently completed her PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of Florida. At Ohio State, Kelsey’s research focused on Fusarium head blight forecasting and management. Upon completion of her MS, and prior to her PhD, she entered the workforce joining Monsanto’s (now Bayer’s Soybean Breeding and Plant Health organizations. Kelsey’s PhD research was focused on modeling epidemics in seed systems to inform landscape-scale intervention strategies, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. In her new role, she plans to build a collaborative, extension-centered program with an emphasis on pathogen biology, diagnostics, distribution, and integrated management. Kelsey has a special interest in integrating data layers using big-data tools to inform on-farm recommendations. She enjoys running, biking, and baking.

Transitions

You may recognize this face as one of our graduates from the December Newsletter! After completing her dissertation on Wheat Blast Management, Dr. Giovana Cruppe transitioned to the role of Research Assistant Professor under Dr. Barbara Valent.

Another familiar face is Ms. Chandler Day. After graduating in December with her Master’s degree, Chandler transitioned into the role of Assistant Director for the Great Plains Diagnostic Network (GDPN). In her new role she supports the GDPN laboratories and diagnosticians and works with the National Plant Diagnostic Network to communicate plant health problems effectively. Chandler’s hobbies include plant identification and collecting, birding, and embroidery. Her favorite summer activities are hiking and kayaking.

Congratulations to Jie Ren, who transitioned from Research Technician to Research Assistant. Jie works for the Integrated Genomics Facility (IGF) with Dr. Alina Akhunova. Originally from Nanchong, Sichuan Province in China, she received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Beijing Forestry University and her PhD in Molecular and Biochemistry from the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She started with the department as a research assistant for Dr. Liu in 2014 studying maize gross’s wilts disease and then joined the IGF in 2016. We are thankful for all of her hard work and service!

After graduating with his Bachelor’s degree in Biosystems Engineering, Cameron Amos is transitioning to a Graduate Research Assistant (MS) in Genetics. He will be working under Dr. Jesse Poland mapping deleterious mutations in wheat. Cameron’s hobbies include painting, drawing, camping and cooking. His favorite summer activity is stargazing.

Judy O’Mara was selected as the State Leader for Extension Plant Pathology. Judy will serve as a point of contact for university and state plant health issues. The state leader also works to ensure team members have the resources and working environment needed to ensure fulfillment of our team mission which is to assist Kansas growers maintain agricultural profitability and healthy yards.

Congratulations to Alina Akhunova on being promoted to the rank of Research Professor. Dr. Akhunova is the director of Integrated Genomics Facility, which supports researchers at KSU, in the USA, and around the world. She also runs a genomic technologies workshop during summer semesters, which attracts students from multiple colleges at K-State.

Lucky Mehra was designated as Teaching Assistant Professor. Dr. Mehra teaches Principles of Plant Pathology, coordinates plant pathology minor, and coordinates Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduate Program. He also teaches workshops on R programming.

Graduations

Congratulations! to our spring graduates

Monica Navia

Degree: PhD Plant Pathology

Major Professor: Harold Trick

Dissertation: Engineering the Wheat Genome to Reduce the Susceptibility to Fungal and Viral Diseases.

Jordan Brungardt

Degree: PhD Plant Pathology

Major Professor: Harold Trick

Dissertation: Biotechnological Approaches for Improved Disease Resistance in Soybean and Wheat

Department representation

Richard Todd chaired the 17th International Aspergillus Meeting in Rome, Italy, February 16-17, 2020.

Chris Little was elected to faculty senate for a 3-year term that will begin in fall 2020. The faculty senate is responsible for a lot of behind the scene activities such as academic affairs (e.g. curriculum) and faculty affairs (e.g revision of the university handbook). Thank you Chris for representing our department and our college.

Kansas State University

Department of Plant Pathology