Graduate Student Wins Award for Penn State Research

Presently a PhD student at Cornell, Dave Moody (MS Soil Science Penn State, '07) won 2nd place in the NE Branch of the American Agronomy Science Meeting Graduate Student Oral Paper Competition this July.

The presentation of his Penn State research, titled 'Predicting Repellency Indices of Hydrophobic Sands Using Ninety-degree Surface Tension Data' was one of two dozen delivered by MS and PhD graduate students representing Northeastern Universities at the meeting held in Portland, Maine.

The research was conducted under the direction of Dr. Max Schlossberg.

Graduate Student Profile: Jing Dai

Ms. Jing Dai earned her BS degree in Agronomy from China Agricultural University in 2004. Jing then moved to the Pennsylvania State University to characterize the salinity tolerance of annual bluegrass and earned her MS degree in Agronomy (under the direction of Dr. David R. Huff) in 2006. Currently, Jing is a Ph.D. candidate in Agronomy (under the direction of Dr. A. J. Turgeon) at Penn State, working on improving creeping bentgrass nitrogen fertility regimes for optimized turfgrass quality and reduced environmental impact. Specifically, her dissertation is focused on the integration of iron and trinexapac-ethyl into nitrogen fertility programs for regulation of water and fertilizer requirements by intensively managed Penn A-series creeping bentgrass putting greens.

Jing enjoys teaching very much as a graduate teaching assistant. She has assisted in the instruction of four courses and five lab sections in the past four years and received the NACTA graduate student teaching award in 2008. She is also interested in agricultural statistics and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. minor in statistics. Under the direction of Dr. James L. Rosenberger, she presented a departmental seminar on incomplete blocks in 2008 and has implemented numerous advanced experimental designs and data analytical methods in her research. Ms. Jing Dai expects to complete her Ph.D. program in May 2010.

Graduate Student Profile: Tanner Delvalle

Mr. Tanner Delvalle (class of 2008) recently began a Master of Science degree program at Penn State (under the direction of Dr. Pete Landschoot) looking at the effects of fairway mowing frequency and dew removal programs on fungicide efficacy for dollar spot control.

The main objective of the study is to determine if increasing mowing frequency on golf course fairways increases or decreases fungicide efficacy. Tanner is looking at three different mowing regimes (2, 4, and 6 days per week) imposed over applications of three different fungicides (chlorothalonil, propiconazole, and iprodione) and comparing how fast these fungicides lose efficacy under the different mowing regimes. He is also looking at dew removal programs to see how this practice affects fungicide performance.

Tanner is from Pottsville, PA, and recently completed his B.S. degree in Turfgrass Science at Penn State. He worked at Eagle Rock Golf Resort for his internship, and was part of the 1^st place team that competed at STMA's Student Challenge competition in 2008 and 2009. He expects to complete his Masters degree in 2010.