Undergraduate

Jonah Gray is a senior in Agronomy and Environmental Science at Iowa State University, and this summer, he was a virtual undergraduate research intern for Kansas State University. Many students became accustomed to remote internships in this past year, Jonah being one of them. Since his internship was virtual, he could do it from Ames and still had the opportunity to build relationships with the other interns and research staff.

This senior spotlight is highlighting Majorie Hanneman, who is a senior double majoring in Agronomy and Genetics. One of her greatest accomplishments while at Iowa State was being inducted into the Cardinal Key Honor Society as a junior. This is one of the greatest honors possible to students at ISU. As a sophomore, she placed 2nd place in the R.F. Baker Plant Breeding Symposium Poster Competition, where she displayed her work with transposable elements in maize. Another honorable accomplishment was when she was selected for an NSF/USDA Research Experience for an Undergraduate internship at the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University.  She was also selected as a Golden Opportunity Scholar by the Agronomy Society of America, Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America in 2019.

Jenna Cowan and Alyssa Swehla were the Iowa State Intramural Euchre Champions. The two seniors met at the Freshmen Agronomy Field Trip and have been friends ever since. Both of these seniors are majoring in Agronomy. Alyssa also majors in Global Resource Systems and minors in Sustainability. Besides her Agronomy major, Jenna also is minoring in Sustainability. Alyssa learned how to play euchre from her dad while growing up and has always enjoyed playing cards. Jenna learned how to play euchre from Alyssa during their sophomore year. The two even host regular euchre nights for their friends. They have learned how to complement each other’s moves and dominate games.