Undergraduate

Johnson selected Cargill Global Scholar

Our Rebecca Johnson has been selected as 2020 Cargill Global Scholars.

The prestigious Cargill Global Scholars Program is an international scholarship program that began in 2013 and offers a scholarship award of $2,500 per year for up to two years. Lien Tran, a junior in environmental science was also selected.

Rebecca, a junior, will join the eight other scholars selected for the program’s eighth leadership development seminar facilitated by Cargill. The seminar will provide training in a variety of business and leadership skills. They will also each be paired with a Cargill business leader who will serve as their one-on-one mentor for the next 12 months.

Cyclones shaping the future of plant breeding

The next meeting of the National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB) will be well represented by Cyclones, with multiple students—both undergraduate and graduate—who will be recognized for being accepted into the Borlaug Scholar program, including Cassie Winn, Hallie Longest and Clayton Carley.

The Borlaug Scholars program was established by the NAPB and is funded through the Agronomy Science Foundation. The goal is to strengthen the next generation of plant breeding science professionals, like the three Cyclones accepted into the program.

Agronomy announces new soil science certificate

Soil science will offer a certificate between a minor and a major by providing official recognition for the focus area of study. A bachelor's degree from Iowa State University is not required to earn the certificate, and it is designed to match up with federal and state requirements to obtain a federal job classified for soil scientists and get licensure in states requiring it. 

Dr. Bradley Miller, assistant professor of agronomy, explains that the certificate requires 31 credits, but 22 of those may count from other academic programs that students are involved in. The certificate is built to help students have a strong foundation in understanding soil systems.

Ella Carlson: Yield Trial Intern

Ella Carlson, sophomore in agronomy, is spending her summer as a Yield Trial Intern for Beck's Hybrids in Marshalltown, Iowa.

"So far I have been involved with planting and early season note taking. During planting I sat on the planted and dumped seed packets to be planted," said Ella.

After everything was planted, Ella began taking early season notes along with three other people. She analyzed the corn to see if it was doing good, bad, or if something went wrong when planted. Her notes will help researchers know why there may be abnormalities in yields when harvested. The interns take notes for several hours and then they go back to Marshalltown day after day to watch the corn. 

Chase Krug: A summer spent at Reiman Gardens

Chase Krug, junior in agronomy, is spending his at Reiman Gardens as their Plant Collections Intern. Chase manages the garden's vast collection of diverse plants and provides the public with educational outreach.

"My summer internship project involves creating a backup germplasm collection of the Dr. Griffith Buck Rose Collection to ensure it is well preserved for future rose breeders as a valuable genetic resource for disease resistant rose germplasm," said Chase. "Dr. Griffith Buck was a famed former rose breeder and professor at Iowa State who created and introduced 90+ varieties of disease-resitant shrub roses."

Jenna Cowan: A twist in summer plans with WinField United

Jenna Cowan, senior in agronomy, was looking forward to being a Digital Technology Manager Intern with WinField United, but her plans quickly changed when COVID-19 began affecting people across the country.

Instead of working directly with retailers to help integrate WinField United agricultural technology tools into their everyday conversations with growers, Jenna's title has transitioned to Agronomy Strategic Projects Intern. Jenna works as a virtual intern as part of the Sales Talent Development and Training division of WinField United.

Ryan Millikin's summer experience interning with Dr. Licht

Ryan Millikin is spending his summer interning with Dr. Mark Licht on campus in the Department of Agronomy. Ryan will be a senior this fall and is a transfer student from Hawkeye Community College.

Ryan explains that Mark has many projects for him to work on during this summer and there are also several graduate students working alongside him as well.

"Earlier this spring we focused on rye biomass. We would take biomass samples, put them in the dryer for 5-7 days, and then record biomass weights. After that, we out the samples through a grinder to later be sent away for nitrate analysis," said Ryan.

Digging into urban soils

Perla Carmenate started exploring the science of agriculture in high school after reading a book about space travel.

The book, “Shades of Earth” by Beth Revis, features a character whose mom is a scientist studying the soils and agriculture of another planet while traveling through the universe. That fascinated Carmenate, who graduates on May 9 with a bachelor’s degree in agronomy.

“She was a scientist, who would take plant and soil samples from a new planet to study and compare it to the agriculture on earth and the spaceship,” Carmenate said. “I just thought that was so cool and I followed that into agronomy which over time has led me to study soils and as I refined my major, I decided to pursue urban soils.”

For Carmenate, agriculture is similar to a beautiful painting composed of several layers.

Going on a weed hunt

Students in Robert “Bob” Hartzler’s Agronomy 217: Weed Identification course have been given an excuse to take a break from sitting in front of their computers and get outside.

Hartzler, professor in agronomy, said the purpose of the class is for students to learn to identify weeds, which usually involves going on class field trips. With the switch to online learning, he wanted to find a way for students to learn to identify weeds in person, rather than just looking at weed pictures online. Thus, the idea to send students on a weed hunt was born.

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