Meghann Jarchow
Designer of Sustainable Systems
Meghann Jarchow
I am a new PhD student in the Agronomy Department and a recipient of the Agronomy Department’s Research Training Fellowship. I am co-majoring in the Graduate Program for Sustainable Agriculture (GPSA) and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB), which are both interdepartmental programs whose graduate students are from multiple home departments. Although I came to Iowa State University with no formal training in agronomy, I knew that I wanted to be a member of the Agronomy Department because I greatly value the objective of the Agronomy Department to conduct good scientific research that can be applied to improving our current agricultural system.
I received my Bachelor’s degree from Ripon College in biology, emphasizing mainly plant ecology. After Ripon College, I went to Minnesota State University, Mankato to get my Master’s degree in plant ecology. At Minnesota State, I studied invasive, wetland plant ecology. Specifically, I studied whether Typha angustifolia (an invasive, introduced cattail species) was allelopathic (produced compounds that are inhibitory to other plants). No previous research had examined whether T. angustifolia was allelopathic, and the results of my research were the first to support that it may be allelopathic. And although I found my master’s research exciting – I greatly enjoy conducting research – there were no practical applications for the results of my research. Knowing that T. angustifolia may be allelopathic does not help wetland managers figure out how to eliminate or control T. angustifolia.
After Minnesota State, I spent two years teaching as a biology instructor at Gustavus Adolphus College. I knew that I wanted to go back to school to pursue my PhD, but I wanted to spend some time thinking about what field of research I am most passionate about because my research at Minnesota State did not fulfill all of my research needs. In addition to finding interesting results, I needed to feel like what I was doing could be useful to society. Because I love studying plant ecology, I decided that I wanted to study plant ecology of one of the most extensive types of ecosystems in the world – agricultural systems.
I chose to attend Iowa State University because ISU is a powerhouse in agricultural research and has many exceptional researchers. I was also able to find a major advisor whose educational training and current research are directly in line with my interests. My major advisor, Dr. Matt Liebman, was trained as a plant biologist, and he uses his knowledge of plant ecology to develop farming systems that work with the ecology of a system (e.g. using naturally occurring insect predators to control pest insects rather than using insecticides to control pests). Dr. Liebman also studies alternative cropping systems for biomass production – cropping systems that produce a useful product (biomass) but that also provide multiple ecological services such as carbon sequestration, water retention, and wildlife habitat.
My research with Dr. Liebman will examine using diverse prairie-like ecosystems (prairie-like because they will not be as diverse as “natural” prairies) as potential biomass cropping systems. My research will also compare the production ecology of different biomass cropping systems. With the current interest in biomass crops, I am excited that I will be conducting research that may have direct applications in the very near future. I am grateful to have been selected as a Research Training Fellow because I know that I am a part of an exceptional department and will be provided with the resources that I need to conduct exceptional research.
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