WOOSTER, Ohio — Here are the winners of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) Graduate Student Poster Competition held during OARDC's 2008 Annual Research Conference April 17 in Wooster:
Ph.D. Category
• First place: Rodrigo Chorbadjian, Entomology, "Insect-host Phenological Synchrony: Foliar Terpenes and Free Amino Acids in Relation to European Pine Sawfly Cycle;" Dan Herms, Entomology, advisor.
• Second place (tie): Vanessa Muilenburg, "Identification of Resistance Mechanisms of Birch to Bronze Birch Borer"; Dan Herms, advisor. Nathan Kleczewski, Plant Pathology, "Potential Regulation of Ectomycorrhizae by Paper Birch in Response to Soil Type and Fertilization: Linking Growth Differentiation Balance Hypothesis and Carbon Allocation Models"; Pierluigi Bonello, Plant Pathology, advisor.
• Third place: Sunjeong Park, Environmental Science Graduate Program, "Exploring the Frontiers of Urban Soil Ecology: Influence of the Length of Urbanization Period on Soil Chemical Properties and Nematode Community"; Parwinder Grewal, Entomology, advisor.
M.S. Category
• First place: Ruly Soewignjo, Human Nutrition, "Differences in Dietary Intake and Meal Patterns in U.S. Children by Food Security Status"; Hugo Melgar-Quiñonez, Human Nutrition.
• Second place: Rosa Raudales, Plant Pathology, "In Vitro Screening for Biocontrol Potential Abilities of Ohio Bacterial Isolates Over Tomato Pathogens"; Brian McSpadden Gardener, Plant Pathology, advisor.
• Third place: Elizabeth Morris, Entomology, "Development of a Novel Lure and Kill Approach for the Japanese Beetle"; Parwinder Grewal, advisor.
Judged by a panel of OARDC scientists, the competition recognizes outstanding posters — presentations that use text and graphics to summarize research projects — by OARDC-supported master's-degree and doctoral students.
The first-place winners in each category received $500, second place, $300, third place, $150.
Organizing the competition were Gonul Kaletunc, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering; Hua Wang, Food Science and Technology; Linda Lobao, Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics; Larry Phelan, Entomology; and Connie Britton, OARDC Library.
OARDC is the research arm of Ohio State's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
OARDC's annual conference focused on a theme of "Recasting Our Agbioscience Research Agenda: Integrated Projects."
Jan Weisenberger, senior associate vice president for research at Ohio State, gave the keynote address.
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