Graduate Students

Libia Gomez-Trejo

Starting Year: 2023

Program Specialization:

Integrated Plant Biology
Libia Gomez-Trejo

I received my bachelor's degree in Agronomy with a specialization in Plant Health from the Chapingo Autonomous University in Mexico in 2022. After that, I worked for one year at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), where my research project was on elucidating plant pathogen interactions in the tar spot disease of maize. As an undergrad and during my first job experience, I became interested in joining wet lab and computational approaches to better understand biological processes in plants and associated organisms.

Nikee Shrestha

Starting Year: 2022

Program Specialization:

Integrated Plant Biology
Nikee Shrestha

Laboratory Association(s):

https://schnablelab.org/

I earned my bachelor's degree in Agricultural Science in 2018, specializing in Plant Breeding, from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Tribhuvan University. I did my internship for a few months in the wheat breeding unit of Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and learned about traditional breeding of varieties. I came to Oklahoma State University in 2019 and completed a master's degree in plant biology in Spring 2022, where my research focused on quantitative genetics of shattering, a domestication trait in pearl millet.

Waqar Ali

Starting Year: 2023

Program Specialization:

Integrated Plant Biology
Waqar Ali

Laboratory Association(s):

https://schnablelab.org/

I am working with Dr. James Schnable. My research primarily centers on the predictive modeling of maize by leveraging the integration of high-throughput phenotyping and quantitative genetics.

Fan Huang

Starting Year: 2022

Program Specialization:

Integrated Plant Biology
Fan Huang

Laboratory Association(s):

https://www.unl.edu/cahoonlab/welcome

I graduated with a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Huazhong Agricultural University. I have a relatively rich background in bioinformatics and plant lipid metabolism genetics. Currently, I am working in Edgar Cahoon's laboratory, focusing on carrot polyacetylene biosynthesis and metabolism.

Jensina Davis

Starting Year: 2022

Program Specialization:

Integrated Plant Biology
Jensina Davis

I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Agronomy and Seed Science with a minor in Statistics from Iowa State University, where I became interested in applying data science, statistics and computational methods to agronomic data to improve the sustainability of crop production. Under Dr. Schnable, my current research focuses on understanding the interaction between genetics, the environment, and management practices of hybrid maize, with a specific focus on nitrogen use efficiency.

 

Michael Richter

Starting Year: 2019

Program Specialization:

Integrated Plant Biology
Michael Richter

Laboratory Association(s):

https://plantpathology.unl.edu/richard-wilson

Michael obtained his biotechnology undergraduate degree at the Brandenburgische-Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) in Senftenberg, Germany. In his last year before graduation, he completed two research internships at UNL, Lincoln, NE and Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. To pursue further education, Michael then entered UNL as a Ph.D. student under Dr. Richard Wilson where he works on the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae.

Michael Tross

Starting Year: 2019

Program Specialization:

Integrated Plant Biology
Michael Tross

Laboratory Association(s):

Dr. James Schnable

Research Description:

Employing computational tools, algorithms and deep learning methods for high throughput plant phenotyping.
Utilize statistical algorithms to perform quantitative genetics tasks on maize and sorghum populations.

He hails from the small town of Sandy Point, located on the small island of St.Kitts within the Caribbean region.

Hongyu Jin

Starting Year: 2019

Program Specialization:

Integrated Plant Biology
Hongyu Jin

Laboratory Association(s):

Dr. James Schnable

Research Description:

I am interested in utilizing and optimizing high throughput phenotyping and genomics tools to reveal biology questions of crops.