More than 60 graduate students in Texas Tech University’s Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources convened Thursday for the college’s annual Graduate Student Research Poster Competition, an event that spotlighted research ranging from crop science to natural resource management.
The Oct. 9 gathering, held at the university’s International Cultural Center, served as both a showcase and a proving ground for the next generation of agricultural scientists. “The students are heavily contributing to solving important problems in agriculture, resources and landscapes,” said Darren Hudson, the college’s associate dean for strategic initiatives and assessment. “The scope of their work reflects the integrated, trans-disciplinary approach that defines Davis College.”
The competition featured categories in Crop & Livestock Production Systems, Economic & Social Systems, Plant, Animal and Human Health & Disease, and Sustainable Ecosystems and Landscapes — reflecting the broad terrain of inquiry shaping the college’s research mission.
Winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd Place) winners included:
Crop & Livestock Production Systems
- Shishir Kanti Talukder(PSS/PhD Candidate) First Place: Comparative Assessment of Chilling Stress Induced Physiological and Metabolic Changes in Field Grown Sorghum and Maize Hybrids
- Christian Stephens (PSS/PhD Candidate) Second Place: Phenotypic Evaluation of Early-Generation Breeding Lines for Yield-Related Traits in Texas-Bred Rice Cultivar Presidio
- Megan Singletary(PSS/PhD Candidate) Third Place: Impact of Cover Crop Planting Rates and Termination Method on Early-Season Weed Suppression in Organic Cotton
Economic & Social Systems
- Jana Owen(AEC/Master’s Student) First Place: Navigating Undergraduate Research Perspectives: An Exploration of Undergraduate Researchers’ Motivations and Barriers Toward Pursuing Research
- Stanishkar Thevaruparambil Sunil (AAEC/PhD Candidate)) Second Place: Implications of India's Non-Basmati Rice Export Ban on Global Rice Trade
- Ivette Morales (PSS/Master’s Student) Third Place: Nurturing Green Hearts: The Relationship Between Nature, Well-Being, and Environmental Concern
Plant, Animal and Human Health & Disease
- Avinash Dhar(AEC/PhD Candidate) First Place: Structure and Functional Potential of the Grassland Aerobiome
- Ketzalzin Vazquez Hernandez(PSS/Master’s Student) Second Place: Surface Chemistry Modifications of Cellulose Nanocrystals as a Strategy to Tune Behavior in Polar and Nonpolar Media
- Arieli Daieny Da Fonseca (AFS/Master’s Student) Third Place: Where Do Dogs Prefer to Play? The Influence of Surface Material and Temperature on Dog Behavior
Sustainable Ecosystems & Landscapes
- Amanda Newman (NRM/Master’s Student) First Place: Effects of Roadways on Bat Activity and Distribution in East Texas
- Shafaet Alam Abir (LA/Master’s Student) Second Place: Synanthropic Corridor: Rethinking Human-Elephant Interactions Through Community Conservation in Northern Bangladesh
- Elizabeth Neal(AFS/PhD Candidate) Third Place: Evaluation of Cooked Color and Sensory Performance of Whole Muscle Steaks Under Nitric Oxide-Modified Atmosphere and Traditional Packaging Systems
While the competition recognized first-, second- and third-place winners across multiple research categories, the event’s value extended beyond awards. Participants gained experience distilling complex research into accessible presentations for audiences that included USDA experts, faculty members and advanced graduate students serving as judges.
Other participants included:
Crop & Livestock Production Systems
- Mayank Bangari | Structural and Biomechanical Basis of Stem Lodging in Grain Sorghum Under Different Water Regimes
- Esteban Penados Betancourt | Within-Carcass Relationships of Muscle, Fat, And Bone in The Round, Loin, Rib, And Chuck
- Jayme Czap | The Use of Bridges as Day Roosts by Bats (Order Chiroptera) in East Texas
- Yusa Ichinose | Genomic Regions Controlling Pre-Harvest Sprouting in Grain Sorghum Backed by a Novel Protocol for Evaluating Pre-Harvest Sprouting Tolerance
- John Kohler | Evaluation of Various Adjuvants Tank-Mixed with Topramezone + Liberty ULTRA for Palmer Amaranth Control Postemergence
- Bianca Metallo | The Effect of Weaning Age on Physiological, Behavioral, And Performance Indicators of Welfare in Weaned Piglets
- Mahjabin Ferdaous Mim | Soil Microbiome Response to Drought under Conservation Management in Semi-arid Cotton Production Systems
- John Nials | Comparison of Synovex® Reimplant Programs for Beef Steers Fed More Than 200 Days-On-Feed
- Jeff Opena | Surviving the Stress: Using Solanum Lycopersicoides Chromosome Introgressions to Improve Drought Tolerance in Exotic Tomato Germplasm
- Andrea Caprini Sagirato | Reduced-Input Herbicide Programs for Cotton in West Texas
- Megan Singletary | Impact of Cover Crop Planting Rates and Termination Method on Early-Season Weed Suppression in Organic Cotton
- Gaganjot Singh Sodhi| Determining the Effect of Sorghum-Cotton Rotation on Crop Weed Dynamics
- Christian Stephens | Phenotypic Evaluation of Early-Generation Breeding Lines for Yield-Related Traits in Texas-Bred Rice Cultivar Presidio
- Paolo Tagaloguin | Gene Co-expression Networks Reveal Hubs and Transcription Factors in Rice Salt Stress Response
Economic & Social Systems
- Derick Adu | COVID-19 Impacts on Household Food Insecurity in Malawi
- Tuhinur Rahman Chowdhury | Effects of Recreational Marijuana Legalization on Agricultural Employment and Wage
- Clarissa Darby | Now Loading: Exploring Conversations About AI in Education One Post at a Time
- Brenda Mamani Escobar | The Impact of Sensory Evaluation and Information on U.S. Consumer Demand for Biofortified Lettuce
- Umesh Gautam | Implications of Mass Deportation for U.S. Vegetable Production
- Jana Owen | Navigating Undergraduate Research Perspectives: An Exploration of Undergraduate Researchers’ Motivations and Barriers Toward Pursuing Research
- Ivette S Morales | Nurturing Green Hearts: The Relationship Between Nature, Well-Being, and Environmental Concern
- Oluwabusolami Ogunmoyero| Effects of Abortion Restrictions on Health Outcomes
- Stanishkar Thevaruparambil Sunil | Implications of India's Non-Basmati Rice Export Ban on Global Rice Trade
- Emily Webberson | Evaluating Gilts’ Toy Preference and Their Effect on the Occurrence of Aggressive Behaviors in Gilts After Mixing
Plant, Animal and Human Health & Disease
- Md Mobinul Haque Adon | Genetic Variation in Chemical Composition of Corn Stalks and Ear
- Grace Akumu | Biocontrol of Listeria monocytogenes in hydroponics: Enhanced efficacy of Bacillus–Trichoderma harzianum bioinoculant consortia
- Madalyn Bower | Evaluating Canine Detection Threshold in Indoor vs. Outdoor Environments
- Erin Castelli | Efficacy of Lactic Acid Bacteria J19 and L28 in Reducing Listeria monocytogenes on Raw Pet Kibble
- Glenna Cupp | Effect of Soil Particle Size and Depth on Dogs’ Detection of a Buried Odor
- Avinash Dhar | Structure and Functional Potential of the Grassland Aerobiome
- Arieli Daieny Da Fonseca | Where Do Dogs Prefer to Play? The Influence of Surface Material and Temperature on Dog Behavior
- Beatriz Queiroz Dos Reis | Ruminal Papillae Characterization and Ruminal Metabolomics of Beef on Dairy Heifers with Abscessed or Non-Abscessed Livers
- Ketzalzin Vazquez Hernandez | Surface Chemistry Modifications of Cellulose Nanocrystals as a Strategy to Tune Behavior in Polar and Nonpolar Media
- Beatriz Herrera | Comparison of the Physicochemical Profiles of Cotton, Hemp, and Bacterial Microfibrillated Cellulose towards Tissue Engineering
- Ricardo Martinez | Validation Study for Hypercell PCR Platform through the Detection of Listeria Monocytogenes in Environmental Samples in a Cheese Manufacturing Environment
- Fabien Matsiko | Efficacy of Postharvest Chemical Sanitizer Treatments on Salmonella Typhimurium in Hydroponically Grown Living Basil
- Diego Morais Moreira | Association of Severe Diarrhea and BRD with ADG, Feed Intake, Milk Replacer Refusal And Mortality, In Pre-Weaned Holstein and BxD Calves
- Lindsay Nakonechny | Examining veterinary Staff Professional Quality of Life and Its Association with Dog Handling
- Liza Rothkoff | Exercise Intensity and Duration Impacts on Gastrointestinal Temperature and Odor Detection Performance of Dogs
- Luis Salazar | Feasibility Assessment of Lotting and Sampling Methods for Pathogen Analysis of Chicken Tenders
- Rituparna Sonowal | To Chew or Not to Chew? Exploring The Influence of Scented Chew Toys on Puppy Chewing
- Bridger Sparks | Adipose Tissue Neuro-like Cell Profile Changes with Ketosis in Dairy Cows
Sustainable Ecosystems & Landscapes
- Shafaet Alam Abir | Synanthropic Corridor: Rethinking Human-Elephant Interactions Through Community Conservation in Northern Bangladesh
- Hannah Adams | Evaluating the Body Condition of Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis) in Mountain Streams with and Without Invasive Brown trout (Salmo trutta)
- Khusboo Agrawal | Assessing the Natural Variability of Grain Sorghum Stubble for Value-Added Bio-Product Development
- Faith Alonge | Assessing the Efficiency of Wastewater-Derived Struvite in Enhancing Soil Phosphorus Dynamics Using Soil Incubation Assays
- Diego Arcelay-Sanchez | Effects of Wet and Dry Cycles on the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Dynamics of Playa Lake Withing Agricultural Systems
- Fawzia Bhuiyan | Play with Playa: A Research Based Playground Design for Children Focusing on Their Learning Affordances and Cognitive Development Focusing on the Local Playa Ecology of Lubbock
- Taslima Chowdhury | Roots of Resilience: Bamboo as a Pathway to Sustainable Livelihoods
- Mehri Farnaz | Assessing the Performance of Designed Outdoor Spaces Adjacent to Academic Buildings in a Semi-Arid Campus: Student Preferences, Microclimatic Comfort, and AR-Based Design Simulation
- Jivan Gaire | Assessing the Challenges to Adopting Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs) among Farmers in the Mountain Regions of Nepal
- Asifa Jamal | Integrating Nature-Based and Cultural Heritage Solutions for Coastal Resilience at Port Fourchon, Louisiana
- Han Khaing | Irrawaddy River: Adapting to Nature
- Derseh Limeneh | Optimizing Microwave-Assisted Fractionation of Value-Added Chemicals from Agricultural Residues
- Elizabeth Neal | Evaluation of Cooked Color and Sensory Performance of Whole Muscle Steaks Under Nitric Oxide-Modified Atmosphere and Traditional Packaging Systems
- Amanda Newman | Effects of Roadways on Bat Activity and Distribution in East Texas
- Katherine Rollefson | Evaluation of Invasive Risk Models Using eDNA
- Anjana Chakkalakkal Sabu | Sorghum Stover Biorefining: Xylooligosaccharides as Immune-Modulating Feed Additives
- Reshma Panackal Shibu | Chitin Meets Nylon: A Bio-Bridge to Strength
- Teja Saddapalli | Polished Desalinated Produced Water - A Promising Irrigation Source for Semi-Arid Agriculture
- Shanila Saifullah | Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Extended Reality (XR) in Landscape: Exploring the Impact of Interactive Park Design on Young Adults’ Engagement, Learning, and Well-being
- Anagha Sunil | Nanochitin for Sustainable Herbicide Encapsulation
CONTACT: Sandra Addo, Program Manager - Career Pathways, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or sandra.addo@ttu.edu
1010NM25 / PHOTO: Kadyn Collins