FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Dr. Angel Cruz, Academic and Extension Initiatives Manager – aecruz@ncsu.edu
Raleigh, NC: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) Graduate Fellowship was developed to provide financial support and recognition for future leaders, researchers and contributors in sustainable agriculture and local food systems while they engage in academic research to further the field of study.
The Fellowship offers a one-year, $5,000 stipend for Master’s students and a two-year, $5,000-per-year stipend for Doctoral students.
Angel Cruz, CEFS Academic and Extension Initiatives Manager, is excited about another great cohort of diverse graduate students and our first Graduate Fellows from the Bio and Ag Engineering Department. “I’m especially excited to get back to doing in person activities with this year’s cohort. We are planning a trip to DC to learn more about the intersection of agricultural policy and research, as well as visiting local farms across NC.”
The CEFS North Carolina State University (NC State) Graduate Fellowship Program was made possible by an endowment from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.
The 2022-2023 CEFS NC State Graduate Fellows and their departments/research areas are:
April Dobbs | Doctorate | Crop Science | NC State University
April is pursuing her Ph.D. in Crop Science at North Carolina State University, in the Weed Ecology and Biology Lab. Her research is focused on using 3-D imaging techniques to model and predict the effects of cover crops on weed suppression. The goal of this research is to provide growers with predictive tools for predicting late-season weed escapes based on variable cover crop performance in the field. This will enable growers to identify and spot-treat weedy patches earlier and with greater efficiency, which will greatly reduce labor and herbicide use. In addition to this research, April is also doing projects related to weediness risk potential and ecological factors in weed germination.
Before coming to NC State, April completed her Bachelor’s degree in Genetics and Plant Biology at U.C. Berkeley, and a Master’s degree in Organismal and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard, where she studied seed morphology and dispersal in wild relatives of Arabidopsis thaliana. She also spent several years working on organic farms around the world, which is where she discovered her love for small-scale agriculture and the CSA model. April is excited to be joining the newest CEFS cohort and learning more about food production systems in North Carolina. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking and playing the cello.
Carly Graves | Masters | Biological and Agricultural Engineering | NC State University
Carly is a Master’s student studying Biological and Agricultural Engineering with a passion for providing sustainable food sources for a growing population. Growing up in Wake Forest, NC, her exposure to agriculture was limited, but exposure at NC State to the intricacies of our food production systems sparked her interest.
Her current research is in the area of agricultural waste management, specifically trying to engineer sustainable alternatives to reduce harmful emissions from animal production. After graduating with her M.S., Carly plans to join the workforce in a position that will allow her to interact with growers and producers while helping problem solve solutions in agricultural production while keeping air, water, and soil quality a priority.
During the CEFS program, she looks forward to learning from peers and experts in this field while applying and sharing that knowledge through research and extension opportunities.
Mariella Carbajal Carrasco | Doctorate | Biological and Agricultural Engineering | NC State University
Mariella Carbajal is a Ph.D. student in the Biosystems Analytics Lab led by Dr. Natalie Nelson. She is also part of the Sweetpotato Analytics for Produce Provenance and Scanning project (Sweet-APPS), which strives to develop new technologies to minimize waste and maximize value of North Carolina sweet potatoes. Her dissertation research focuses on the characterization and development of a growth simulation model for main North Carolina sweetpotato varieties, which currently do not exist. In addition, she is building predictive models using data analytics, machine learning and remote sensing to identify the main drivers of sweetpotato yield quality (in terms of shape characteristics) and quantity. As an agricultural scientist, she aims to create foundational knowledge and decision-support tools that help growers to implement improved crop management practices for optimizing productivity and sustainability for the benefit of local food systems and the environment.
Prior to joining NC State, Mariella worked for several years as a researcher specialized in geospatial environmental and crop modeling, as well as in satellite and UAV based remote sensing applications. She was also a USDA Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellow at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she researched soil organic carbon stocks using spectroscopy techniques.
Sandy Ethridge | Doctorate | Crop Science | NC State University
Sandy is a Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University in the Weed Ecology and Biology Lab. Her current research is focused on variable precision planting for site-specific maximization of weed suppression and yield in conventional or organic row crop systems. Field experiments were conducted to compare high density planting arrangements that maximize weed suppression, but might reduce yield, with low density planting arrangements to maximize crop yield under weed-free conditions. A bioeconomic model will then be created in order to optimize the balance between low density, weed free areas and high density, weedy areas that should be targeted for variable planting, considering seed costs and expected yield changes. This would provide a cost-benefit analysis when adopting this new integrated pest management strategy. Before she started her Ph.D., Sandy completed her Bachelor’s degree in Plant and Soil Science, with a concentration in Agroecology, at NC State. Sandy has also worked on many farms, including the Agroecology Education Farm at NC State, an organic vegetable farm in Long Island, New York, and in Dr. Jim Holland’s Maize Breeding and Genetics Lab.
Christopher Gillespie | Doctorate | Plant Pathology | NC State University
Christopher Jorelle Gillespie was born in Champaign-Urbana. Gillespie grew up in Douglas Park, an area historically stagnated by racial segregation and economic curtailment. Raised by a single mother, Gillespie was introduced to the sciences by his grandmother, who was an educator and University of Illinois affiliate. In May 2017, Gillespie received his bachelors in Crop and Soil Science from Michigan State University. Gillespie then matriculated to Oklahoma State University, obtaining a M.S. in Plant and Soil Science specializing in soil chemistry in June 2019. Currently, Gillespie is working towards a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology (specializing in soil biogeochemistry) at North Carolina State University. As a member of the Hu Lab, Gillespie’s primary research endeavors are focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within differing agroecosystems. Moreover, Gillespie seeks to explore the influence of soil physical properties, chemical processes, and microbial structure and functionality on GHG emissions in Southeastern soils.
Rebecca Shisler | Doctorate | Sociology and Anthropology | NC State University
Rebecca Shisler (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in the sociology department at North Carolina State University. Her dissertation research will focus on people who forage wild foods and plant materials (also referred to as Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs)) and how one’s relationship to the land, local food systems, and policy shapes these practices. Her work engages with the socio-cultural aspects of agrifood systems and the natural environment.
At NC State, Rebecca has also conducted research for CEFS and the sociology department on farm to early care and education programs, farmers’ experiences with growing organic crops, student food and housing insecurity, food insecurity in North Carolina, and most recently, food insecurity and state policy during the Covid-19 pandemic as part of the FIRST research study. Rebecca earned her M.A. in Sociology at Colorado State University in 2016, where she studied the experiences of women farmers in Northern Colorado, and later worked for the local farmers’ market.
In the coming years, she is excited to connect with the other fellows and engage with people who are passionate about creating a better, more sustainable food system through research and extension.
Linnea Andersen | Doctorate | Applied Ecology | NC State University
Linnea Andersen is a PhD candidate at North Carolina State University. Her dissertation research is focused on using machine learning to determine genetic markers for superior aquaculture production traits in two commercially important fish, the striped bass and the hybrid striped bass. Linnea plans to use similar, “omics” -based approaches throughout her career to address issues of production yield, environmental sustainability, and overall food security for local and global agriculture systems and their communities. Linnea’s professional goals stem from a lifelong appreciation for the outdoors that distinctly took shape during her time as an undergraduate student learning about the potential for scientific research to help address challenges in natural resource management and food insecurity at the University of Maryland, College Park.
For more information about the CEFS NC State Graduate Fellows Program, please visit the CEFS website.
The Center for Environmental Farming Systems is a partnership of NC State University, NC Agricultural and Technical State University and the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. CEFS develops and promotes just and equitable food and farming systems that conserve natural resources, strengthen communities, improve health outcomes, and provide economic opportunities in North Carolina and beyond. For more information, visit www.cefs.ncsu.edu.