UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. — Theo (Chelsea) Newbold, a doctoral student in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research Fellowship for 2023–26.
The fellowship is focused on professional development and career guidance to foster the next generation of food and agricultural scientists and better prepare participants for a career in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — and specifically for nontraditional career paths in government and industry outside of academia.
As part of the program, Newbold, who uses the pronouns they/them, will receive a stipend and professional development support through a collaboration between the foundation, North Carolina State University and an industry partner.
For their fellowship, Newbold is sponsored by Pasa Sustainable Agriculture — a nonprofit dedicated to advancing regenerative and equitable agriculture — and the Penn State Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology.
Newbold said that their research will address the foundation’s soil health challenge area.
“In collaboration with Pasa, I will study the impact of cover crops on soil health and disease pressure in economically important row crops like corn and soy,” Newbold said. “The project will use long-term biological, physical and chemical soil health data from Pasa, and I will then incorporate sampled plant pathogen and disease severity data from both organic and conventional systems.”
Newbold added that because crop disease relationships with soil health and cover crops is a major research gap in agriculture, they hope their project will allow them to bridge this gap through their partnership with Pasa.
Looking toward the future, Newbold said the fellowship program will help them better understand the career options outside of academia so they can make a fully informed career decision.
“Service and research in agriculture are critical components of my moral compass and integral to who I am and who I want to be as a scientist and member of the sustainable agriculture community,” Newbold said. “The foundation’s fellows program will allow me to engage in research and service that will contribute to Pasa’s goals, as well as my long-term career goals, and will give me the tools necessary to fully contribute to the well-being of the agricultural sector.”