Earlier this year, ISRC industry partner GDM initiated a travel grant program for ISU graduate students presenting research at scientific conferences in 2024. The ISRC is assisting GDM with the award process. The grants cover student travel expenses for attending the research conferences in recognition of the students’ outstanding research contributions. This program allows deserving graduate students to showcase their work on a national platform. The ISRC advertised the travel grant program among many departments at ISU, collected the applications submitted by graduate students, organized evaluation of the applications and administered the funds. 

In June, GDM awarded two $1,000 travel grants to students who presented their research at the National Association for Plant Breeding Meeting in St. Louis in July.

In July, PhD students Ramesh Chethri and Mercy Fakude each were selected for a $1,000 GDM Travel Grant to attend the 2024 Tri-Society Meeting, November 10-13, in San Antonio, Texas. The Tri-Society is jointly hosted by the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America.

Chethri, an Interdepartmental Genetics and Genomics PhD student under Dr. Madan Bhattacharyya, was selected for his research on the “Identification of Drought-tolerant Genotypes Using Integrated Temperature and Humidity Sensors in Soybean.” Fakude, a PhD student in Plant Breeding under Dr. Thomas Lubberstedt was selected for her research on “Enhancing Maize Productivity through Spontaneous Haploid Genome Doubling.”