Posted: April 29, 2022
Jamie Spychalla, a graduate student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded the 2022 National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
Jamie Spychalla, a graduate student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, examines Vignoles in the fall of 2021 at the Penn State Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center in North East, Pa. IMAGE: SHARIFA CRANDALL
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Jamie Spychalla, a graduate student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded the 2022 National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines or in STEM education who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees at accredited institutions in the United States.
Spychalla’s doctoral research will investigate the impact of phenotype and environment on microbial communities to predict plant disease for grapes. She hopes to apply her research toward helping growers make better predictions for the onset of sour rot disease.
“Not only will the results from this fellowship benefit grape growers nationwide, it will catalyze Jamie’s career as a scientist and plant pathologist,” said Sharifa Crandall, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology.
