Outreach & Press

2024

Congratulations, Sachleen Singh, who successfully defended his dissertation proposal today!

Attending the 2024 Plant Health Congress of the American Phytopathological Society was an excellent experience. It was a pleasure connecting with colleagues and collaborators. I’m especially proud of my students, Winston Miller and Kipa Tamrakar, who did a fantastic job presenting their research. Well done!!

We had a wonderful time with the young kids at Centro Hispano in Jonesboro. Zach did an outstanding job keeping them entertained!

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Congratulations are in order for two recently minted PhDs: Drs. Alix Matthews and Bretton Hale. Together, they boast an impressive array of accomplishments, with a combined total of 20 peer-reviewed publications. I am immensely proud of both of you. Best wishes for your future endeavors, with Brett assuming the role of Head of Research and Development at AgriGro Inc, and Alix embarking on a journey as a Postdoctoral Fellow at SUNNY-Buffalo.

Kudos to Dr. Alix Matthews for winning the Beck College’s Outstanding Ph.D. Student in Molecular Biosciences award. We are really proud of you, Alix!

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Super proud of my students who showcased their work at Create@State 2024

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Kudos to Emilio Soriano Chavez and Sachleen Singh for their outstanding posters at the 10th Annual Conference of the Arkansas Bioinformatics Consortium (AR-BIC). Also, congratulations to Emilio for winning first place in the poster competition (undergraduate category). I am really proud of you!!

Congratulations to Dr. Alix Matthews, who successfully defended her dissertation! I am immensely proud of her exceptional accomplishments , and am privileged to have been a part of her remarkable journey.

2023

Big cheers to Kipa Tamrakar! She successfully completed her thesis proposal defense today. Super proud of her!

Congratulations, Dr. Bretton Hale, who successfully defended his dissertation today! Extremely proud of his extraordinary achievements and fortunate to have him in my lab.

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Brett and Kipa presented their work at ABI Annual symposium and Agri-Food Innovation Summit Research Event

Adding another feather (No pun intended) to Alix’s stellar grad student journey!! Thrilled to be a part of it!

Alix won best student presentation award at the American Ornithological Society/Society of Canadian Ornithologists meeting in London, Ontario.

Brett presented his work at ASPB meeting

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Lunch with the lab group Summer 2023!

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Asela gets tenure

A fantastic effort by Steven Runo’s groups - two wonderful back to back publications. We are extremely glad to be part of this work.

Brett’s review paper is published.

2022

Join me in congratulating Brett Hale for passing his candidacy exam. Brett prepared and defended a research proposal outside the area of his dissertation, and Brett did a great job!! Also, kudos to his excellent committee: Drs. Medina-Bolivar, @alisonrISU, @em_bellis, and Brown.


Extremely fortunate to be part of this great project! Come work with us; we have an excellent set of faculty mentors!

Congratulations to Sandaruwan Ratnayake for successfully defending his Master’s Thesis today. You did an excellent job! Also, thank you very much for his excellent committee: Drs. Sudeepa Bhattacharyya, Jason Causey, and Aaron Shew.

ASPB meeting 2022 in beautiful Portland OR.

ASPB meeting 2022 in beautify Portland OR.

Alix received the prestigious P.E.O. scholar award

Presentation at Plant Path and Microbiology Departmental Spring Seminar Series at ISU

Wijeratne receives USDA research funding

Congrats to my graduate students,Brett Hale and Sandaruwan Ratnayake for their outstanding presentations at Create@State. I am really proud of you!!!

Wijeratne receives Kays Foundation grant

2021

Congratulations to my student Shyaron Poudel who received her MS degree in Molecular Biosciences. I am really proud of you, and best wishes for your new job at St Jude

Congratulations to my undergraduate student, James Cromer, and master’s student, Shyaron Poudel on winning the best undergraduate poster and best graduate oral presentations at Create@AState today.

Lunch with the lab group!