Congratulations to these 13 College of Agriculture, Food and Environment students for receiving the College's Undergraduate Research Grant.

Funding for this award was provided by the UK Vice President for Research and the UK Office of Undergraduate Research. Questions may be directed to Tom Hanna, Assistant Director for the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station. 

Research in our College

Undergraduates can get involved as early as their freshman year.

Student Opportunities

List of Awardees:

Mackenzie Berry,
Animal Science
Advisor: Dr. Jaoa Costa, Animal and Food Sciences

Mackenzie will apply her funding towards the 14th North American Meeting of the International Society for Applied Ethology (NA-ISAE). The conference will be held in Davis, CA. She will present her project that discusses the effects of a probiotic capsule.

Caitlynn Bryant,
Ag & Medical Biotechnology 
Advisor: Dr. Carrie Shaffer, Veterinary Science

Caitlynn will apply her funding for DNA purification kits as well as other tools for research discussing the determination of Transformation Efficiency of Streptomycin Resistant Genomic DNA.

Meghana Gazula,
Ag & Medical Biotechnology
Advisor: Dr. Tomokazu Kawashima, Plant and Soil Sciences

Meghana plans to use the funding for supplies for gene cloning, gel electrophoresis, and genotyping. Her research will discuss determining the molecular mechanisms of GESENI (GEne Silencing based on ENcoded protein's Intracellular localization) in Arabidopsis sperm cells.

Megan Johnston,
Ag & Medical Biotechnology
Advisor: Dr. Tomokazu Kawashima, Plant and Soil Sciences

Megan plans to use her funding for research supplies exploring recombinase enzymes for gateway cloning and exploring the function of central cell RhoGAP genes for fertilization in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Jessica Lamb,
Ag & Medical Biotechnology
Advisor: Dr. Ramon Sun, Molecular and Cellular Biology

Jessica will use her funding to present her research at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2022 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

Hanna Lefevers,
Ag & Medical Biotechnology
Advisor: Dr. Carlos Rodriguez Lopez, Horticulture

Hanna will use her funding towards a project for her ABT396 independent research that will fulfill those requirements. Her project will discuss the validation of potential genes controlling the Soybean Arrested Development (sad) epimutant phenotype.

Daniel Lingeman,
Horticulture Sciences
Advisor: Dr. Daniel Potter, Entomology

Daniel will apply his funding for supplies for research that will evaluate Predatory Mites for Biological of Western Flower Thrips, a Major Pest of Milkweed Grown for Monarch Butterfly Conservation.

Abigail Mathias,
Animal Science
Advisor: Dr. Emma Adam, Veterinary Science

Abigail will use her funding for further progression towards her research project supplies for veterinary research. The major objective of this study is to determine if FMT treated equine colitis cases experience a replenishment of their gut microorganisms compared to cases that do not receive FMT.

Henry Morgan,
Exploratory
Advisor: Dr. Zachary C. Devries, Entomology

Henry will apply his funding towards chemicals and bioassay materials for his research project. This project will evaluate the pyrethroid repellency on the German cockroach using advanced video tracking techniques.

Grace Ramey,
Ag & Medical Biotechnology
Advisor: Dr. Reddy Palli, Entomology

Grace will use her funding for a lab to fulfill the needed requirements for ABT395. This lab will discuss Histone lysine demethylation role Aedes aegypi reproduction. This research requires developing skills in insect rearing, microinjection, dissection, and a suite of molecular techniques to generate data.

Ariana Spina,
Ag & Medical Biotechnology and Animal Sciences
Advisor: Dr. Ernest Bailey, Veterinary Science

Ariana's grant will be used to purchase supplies for DNA horse testing as well as continuing research. The major objectives of this research include finding the significance of the relationship between the ERE1 mutation and the C/T mutation.

Abigail Vetter,
Ag & Medical Biotechnology
Advisor: Dr. Martin Nielson, Veterinary Science

Abigail's grant will support her horse feeding and maintenance for other horses she is keeping. The research she is doing explores the relationship between environmental conditions and species composition in developing strongylid parasites.   

Harrison York,
Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences 
Advisor: Dr. Joseph Robert Burger, Biology

Harrison will use his funding to support travel to conduct field research in the southern Appalachian sky islands.