UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Graduate students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences were recognized for their accomplishments during the 2025 Graduate Student Award Celebration, hosted by the Office for Research and Graduate Education and held recently on the University Park campus.
Beth Gugino, assistant dean for graduate education, said the awards supported by gifts and endowments established by donors to recognize graduate student excellence.
The C. Reese Berdanier Graduate Program Support in Crop and Soil Sciences award, which was made possible by a gift from C. Reese Berdanier, recognizes graduate student excellence in agronomy and soil science. Zoelie Rivera-Ocasio, a doctoral candidate in the soil science and biogeochemistry dual-title program, is the awardee.
Rivera-Ocasio’s research focuses on microbial regulators of carbon and nitrogen cycling in agricultural soils. Her work has yielded a new recommendation tool for appropriate nitrogen fertilizer application rates to corn in Pennsylvania.
The Evans Family Award for Graduate Student Extension Achievement recognizes a master’s degree student and a doctoral candidate who excel in extension educational programming. It was created with a gift from the late Donald E. Evans, an associate professor of agricultural and extension education and assistant dean for extension.
The master’s degree recipient is Mary Akingbosote, who studies agricultural and biological engineering with a dual title in international agriculture and development. Her research examines on-farm biogas treatment and use, promising new opportunities for farmers to profit from biogas production.
The doctoral degree recipient is Malachi Brought, who studies entomology. His research focuses on developing novel integrated pest management methods to control fly pests on mushroom farms.
The Katherine Mabis McKenna Award recognizes an outstanding graduate student studying in a field related to the use of plants for environmental stewardship, especially stream or watershed conservation.
Janniry Belen, a doctoral candidate in the intercollege ecology program, received the award. Her research investigates how native plant communities influence soil erosion along stream riparian zones, and how the diversity of plant species interactions influences rooting structures that stabilize stream banks.
The Paul Hand Award for Graduate Student Research Achievement recognizes graduate student excellence in the college's research and teaching missions for students in both master's and doctoral degree programs.
The master’s degree recipient is Maya Weinberg, a student in the education, development, and community engagement program, with a dual title in transdisciplinary research on environment and society. Her research focuses on understanding the land imaginaries of rural communities impacted by the legacies of extractive coal industries in eastern Kentucky. Weinberg also received the College of Agricultural Sciences Outstanding Thesis Award.
The doctoral degree recipient is Hazel Velasco, who studies rural sociology with a dual-title degree in women, gender, and sexuality studies. Her research uses a feminist lens to study how Latino/immigrant farmworkers and their families negotiate access to healthcare while precariously employed on Pennsylvania farms, with a focus on comparing the mushroom and dairy industries.
The Paul Hand Award for Graduate Student Teaching Achievement recognizes excellence in graduate student teaching. The recipient is Mia Sullivan, a doctoral candidate in the education, development, and community engagement program with a dual-title degree in international agriculture and development.
Sullivan was the primary facilitator and core instructional designer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Higher Education Challenge grant-funded Global Orientation to Agriculture Learning Program.
The Barbara Howell Raphael Educational Equity Graduate Scholarship recognizes a graduate student who exhibits academic excellence and contributes to supporting and enhancing diversity within the college.
The awardee is Marvellous Faluyi, a doctoral candidate in the biorenewable systems graduate program, whose research focuses on using forest-based low-grade biomass materials for hydrogen production.
The William J. and Anne E. Scarlett Award in Watershed Stewardship recognizes students exhibiting academic excellence and whose research focuses on water conservation and stewardship.
Emma Rice, a doctoral candidate in ecology, was the awardee. As part of her research, she has modified a molecular-based method to determine the relative root abundance in mixtures of diverse plant species.
The Penn State Extension Graduate Scholarship, in honor of John S. Shenk and J.D. Harrington, is given to Penn State Extension educators pursuing a graduate degree that focuses on production agriculture or applied agricultural field research.
The recipient was Lanre Shittu, a doctoral candidate in plant pathology with a dual-title degree in international agriculture and development. Shittu conducts research in partnership with Pennsylvania farmers through an on-farm participatory approach to enhance wheat disease management and promote the adoption of integrated management strategies.
The College of Agricultural Sciences Outstanding Dissertation Award recognizes students in the college who are nominated for the Alumni Association Dissertation Award.
The first recipient is Praharsh Patel, a doctoral candidate in the energy, environmental, and food economics program. He studies the mechanisms, incentives and impacts of water conservation policies introduced by the Sacramento, California, municipal water authority, the energy ministry of Gujarat state in western India, and the agriculture ministries of Punjab and Haryana in Northern India.
A second awardee is Pradip Poudel, a doctoral candidate in the agricultural and environmental plant science program. His research examining zinc and the global health issue of micronutrient deficiencies suggests that seed nutrient priming and zinc-enriched fertigation effectively enhance zinc content in microgreens.