-Magdalen Lindeberg

The following SIPS graduate students are this year’s recipients of the Barbara McClintock Graduate Student Award, announced December 5th.  Each student will receive $2,930 from the McClintock endowment.

Craig Carlson is a graduate student in the SIPS Plant Breeding and Genetics Section in the research program of Larry Smart.  His research is focused on breeding and genetics of shrub willow (Salix spp.) for use as a dedicated bioenergy feedstock; particularly, the genomic basis of triploid heterosis.

Elizabeth Cieniewicz, a graduate student in the SIPS Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section, works in the program of Marc Fuchs. Her research is focused on identification of the insect vector that transmits Grapevine red blotch associated virus (GRBaV) and elucidation of the mechanisms by which transmission is accomplished.

Rachel Hestrin is a graduate student with Johannes Lehmann in the SIPS Soil and Crop Sciences Section. She is investigating 1) the relationship between mycorrhizal fungi, other soil microbes, and plant nitrogen nutrition, 2) subsurface ammonia cycling, and 3) interactions between pyrogenic organic matter and nitrogen.

Andy Read is a graduate student in the SIPS Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section, in the program of Adam Bogdanove. He studies transcription activator-like (TAL) effectors in bacterial plant pathogens and the molecular interactions between effectors and their targets in the host plant.