Every year, students from the U.S. and all over the world come to study at the LSU Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology (PPCP) Department and become members of the Graduate Student Association (GSA). Eight new graduate students from the U.S., Brazil, Honduras, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Zambia joined us this year. We had a welcoming barbecue at the LSU Lakes on September 7th for students to meet and greet each other, which is a tradition for new students to be introduced to and blessed by older wise students.
Our annual barbecue is one of the most enjoyed events for the members of our association. As one of the older members said, “You are still a new student if you don’t come to the barbecue.” Whether or not that is true, the welcoming barbecue helps all the members to create personal and academic links for the coming years and life, share countless stories and experiences, while enjoying grilled meat, vegetables and drinks.
Let’s meet the new students
Two new students are working in the Doyle Mycology Lab with Dr. Vinson Doyle. José Solórzano, a master’s student who graduated from the Universidad Nacional de Agricultura in Honduras with a B.S. in Agronomic Engineering is working on the identification of secondary metabolites of fungi related to taproot decline of soybean. Ernesto Ticiano da Silva, who completed his master’s degree in Plant Pathology at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) in Brazil, is a new Ph.D. student researching phylogenetic and population genetics study of Cercospora Leaf Blight (CLB).
We also have a new master’s student from Louisiana, Jacob Searight, who is working with Dr. John Richards to develop a differential set of Cercospora janseana (Narrow Brown Leaf Spot) for assessing disease resistance on rice cultivars and other topics of research, such as using population data and genomics to understand molecular mechanisms of C. janseana virulence.
David Galo, who received his B.S. in Agronomic Engineering from the Universidad Nacional de Agricultura (UNA) in Honduras and Heather Cizek, from Illinois, who obtained her bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Ecology and Management, focusing on fisheries with a minor in wildlife ecology are now master’s students working with Dr. Rodrigo A. Valverde to use biological methods complemented with molecular approaches to detect and isolate potential plant pathogens from die-off affected Roseau cane to determinate the pathogens that may cause disease in this important weed of the wetlands in Louisiana.
From Philippines this year, we have Chenie Zamora and Jobelle Bruno, both pursuing their master’s degrees. Chenie obtained her bachelor’s degree at the University of Philippines Los Baños and is working with Dr. Jeff Hoy on GWAS and Marker development for sugarcane and Sugarcane Mosaic Virus. Jobelle, who obtained her bachelor’s degree from Central Luzon State University, is working with Dr. Jong Hyun Ham on isolation and screening of nitrogen-fixing bacteria as biocontrol agent against sheath blight and bacterial panicle blight and as pgpr to minimize the use of commercial fertilizer for rice.
Waana Kaluwasha from Zambia and Nelomie Galagedara from Sri Lanka are two new Ph.D. students. Waana received her BS in Crop Science from the University of Zambia and her MS in Plant, Insect and Microbial Science at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She is now working with Dr. Christopher Clark, focusing on Rhizopus Soft Rot of Sweet potato and exploring other ways of managing it to reduce the reliance on fungicides. Nelomie is working with Dr. Sara Thomas-Sharma on Developing Real time PCR assay for pathogen detection, meta genomics studies and understanding weather patterns for Cercospora Leaf Blight on soybean. She came to LSU after obtaining her masters in the North Dakota State University.
Thanks to everyone who were involved in the organization of the event. It was an amazing experience for all.
Graduate Student Association Plant Pathology & Crop Physiology at LSU 