Department Briefs
Students and Faculty Travel to Ecuador to Study Sustainability
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| Student intern Andy Sowell and Ecuadorian scientist Luis Escudero discuss an erosion control experiment in Bola de Oro, Ecuador. Photo courtesy of George Norton. |
Several students and faculty members from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences traveled to Bolivar, Ecuador, to participate in a six-week research internship program. Faculty members in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics led the program with support from the college. The program was a part of the Sustainable Agriculture Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Project (SANREM CRSP), funded by the United States Agency for International Development. The SANREM CRSP is examining how improvements in agriculture and natural resource management in the region will raise incomes and reduce damage to the environment.
Students completed a one-credit on-campus course on research methods; the history, economy, and culture in Ecuador; and SANREM CRSP activities. In May, the group traveled to Ecuador, where they spent two weeks in the capital, Quito, studying Spanish, meeting with host-country research partners, and refining their research objectives and methods.
The group then spent four weeks in Bolivar, about four hours south of Quito, conducting field research in three areas: potential enhancements to the dairy marketing system; costs and benefits of erosion control structures; and means of reducing drinking water contamination. At the end of the fieldwork, the research teams presented their findings to USAID-Quito staff, to professionals at the Ecuadorian National Agriculture Research System, and to partner scientists. They also prepared detailed research papers.
“This experience has visibly shown me the things that I’ve been studying in the classroom,” said Andrew Sowell, internship participant. “I would highly recommended this type of program to other students. It’s a one-of-a-kind trip that gave us the chance to have meaningful hands-on experience related to our majors and get more life experience by seeing the world.”
Student participants included Wendy Slusher, Andrew Sowell, Samantha Crosby, Michelle Guarino, and Stacey Maher, agricultural and applied economics majors; Heather Weeks, dairy science major; Alison Smith, biochemistry major, and Lisa Moore, crop and soil environmental sciences major. They were accompanied during their stay in Ecuador by Jeffrey Alwang, George Norton, and Darrell Bosch, professors of agricultural and applied economics; Robert Andrade, graduate student in agricultural and applied economics; and Sarah Hamilton, associate professor of international studies at the University of Denver.
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| Students take some time away from their research to explore Quito, Ecuador. Pictured from left to right front row: Heather Weeks and Alison Smith. Back row: Wendy Slusher, Robert Andrade, Andy Sowell, and George Norton. Photo courtesy of Andy Sowell. |
New Horticulture Faculty Member to Specialize in Biofuel Feedstocks
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| Bingyu Zhao |
Bingyu Zhao, who was recently hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture, specializes in the biotechnology and genomics of biofuel feedstocks.
Zhao’s research focus is on switchgrass (Panicum virginicum), which is considered a prime candidate for large-scale biomass production for ligno-cellulose derived bio-energy. This North American native perennial grass is high-yielding (more than seven tons per acre) and has an extensive root system that allows it to grow on marginal lands with minimal inputs of fertilizers and water. The switchgrass dry matter is primarily composed of cellulose and hemicellulose, both of which can be converted into simple sugars and fermented into ethanol.
Cellulosic ethanol offers many environmental advantages when compared to corn because the feedstocks are easier to grow, as they are often native species that need less fertilizer and fewer herbicides and can be more easily integrated with local agricultural systems. Zhao will focus on improving biomass production and plant resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses to secure yield stability and a steady supply of feedstock to biorefinaries.
Zhao earned his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Laiyang Agricultural College, China; his master’s degree in plant genetics and breeding from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China; and his doctorate in molecular plant pathology from Kansas State University. He gained intensive experience in modern plant molecular biology during his post-doctoral training at the University of California-Berkeley. He will combine traditional plant breeding techniques with biotechnology and molecular biology to further improve the biomass yield of switchgrass.
Zhao has collected about 200 switchgrass lines with about 2,000 individual plants from all over the country, representing a very diverse gene pool. He will use these lines to establish a breeding nursery at the Kentland Farm in Blacksburg. Different traits and morphology of these switchgrass lines will be evaluated and selected. Elite lines will be further modified through plant tissue culture, genetic transformation, and marker-assisted selection. The eventual goal of Zhao’s research team will be breeding elite switchgrass cultivars to satisfy the requirements of downstream processing at the biorefinary facilities.