GLOBAL
SPES MAGAZINE
MARY MICHAEL LIPFORD ZAHED, A GRADUATE STUDENT, BUILDING A GARDEN FOR THE COMMUNITY OF KPONE KATAMANSO.
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
THE GARDEN MARQUEE IS THE NEWEST ADDITION TO THE HAHN HORTICULTURE GARDEN. COMPLETED IN AUGUST – THANKS TO SUPPORT FROM ALUMNI AND DONORS – THE OPEN AIR STRUCTURE OFFERS A UNIQUE EVENT SPACE FOR WEDDINGS AND OTHER SPECIAL EVENTS TO HELP SUPPORT THE GARDEN’S DAILY OPERATIONS.
ON THE AG QUAD
Showcasing the recent achievements and events from the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences teams, clubs, and programs.
Competing in the mountains of Utah, the Landscaping Team placed 10th against 49 other universities at the 2024 National Collegiate Landscape Competition.
“It’s a great couple of days to connect with fellow students from across the country and with landscape professionals looking for students to hire,” said Hannah Burton, a senior in environmental horticulture.
The National Association of Landscape Professionals Foundation also awarded over $100,000 in scholarships at the event, with four Virginia Tech students being recipients; Burton, Hannah Chambers, Kevin Painchaud, and Makenna McLaughlin.
Top 10, Scholarships, and Awards National Champions
The Soil Judging Team earned first place at the 2024 National Soil Judging Contest in Ames, Iowa.
“With 25 teams and 205 students competing from across the nation our victory was hard-earned,” said Clara Betts, a junior in ecological restoration.
Shoreline Cleanup
The Graduate Student Organization teamed up with The Nature Conservancy for a shoreline cleanup of a scenic seaside marsh, ending the day with an exclusive vineyard tour.
Weed Lab
Four new students and a research associate have joined the Weed Science Lab, where they will focus on interdisciplinary approaches to weed management through the use of herbicides, cover crops, and robotics.
Seasonal Plant Sales
The Horticulture Club hosted a series of seasonal plant sales, offering a diverse selection of plants nurtured by club members. The events drew plant enthusiasts from across the community, with proceeds supporting club activities and educational projects.
The annual Turfgrass Field Day featured “Not Your Normal Golf Game” with nine holes, a tour of the Turfgrass Research Center, and opportunities to collaborate with experts in turfgrass and landscape design.
Golf and Turf Spray Drones
Indoor Farming
The annual conference, CEA Summit East, featured a keynote speech from Glenn Youngkin, the Governor of Virginia, followed by innovative networking sessions that united the controlled environment agriculture community to share research, business strategies, and build partnerships.
The Mid Atlantic Spray Drone Workshop featured the latest research on drone applications in agriculture, from cover crop seeding to drift management.
Participants witnessed field research and drone flight operations firsthand.
Meet Ben, the Interim Director
PHOTOS COURTESY OF BENJAMIN TRACY
With 17 years of dedicated service at Virginia Tech, Benjamin Tracy has been appointed the interim director of the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, effective July 1. He will continue to serve in his current roles as associate director of undergraduate programs and professor of forage and crop ecology.
Tracy succeeds Michael Evans, the school’s founding director, who stepped down to focus on his roles as a professor in controlled environment agriculture and co-director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center.
“Benjamin Tracy is the best fit for the interim position due to his extensive experience and dedication to the school,” Evans said. “His strategic vision will ensure the continued success and growth of our programs.”
Tracy played an instrumental role in the introduction of the plant science degree program when the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences was established in 2018, combining three departments — horticulture, crop and soil environmental sciences, and plant pathology, physiology, and weed sciences — under one administrative roof. His firsthand experience in these changes has properly equipped him to tackle the school’s next challenge of restructuring its graduate student programs.
“The current structure of our graduate student programs can be confusing for students, so we are working toward a unified degree in plant and environmental sciences,” Tracy said. “This overhaul will involve a comprehensive curriculum redesign, and I am committed to having it ready for approval by the end of the year.”
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Tracy’s expertise spans research, teaching, and Extension. His research primarily focuses on enhancing the productivity and sustainability of foragelivestock systems through plant diversity. He has taught courses on agronomic crops and forage crop ecology and authored 51 peer-reviewed publications, making substantial contributions to the integration of native grasses into pasturelands and assessing forage performance in varied systems.
Tracy holds a Ph.D. in ecology from Syracuse University, a master’s degree in environmental pollution control from Penn State University, and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Rutgers University.
The School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech plays a vital role in advancing sustainable agricultural practices and environmental stewardship. Its programs address critical issues such as developing climateresilient crop varieties, implementing sustainable water management practices, and restoring contaminated and degraded lands.
“It is an incredible honor to lead the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech,” Tracy said. “I look forward to working with students, staff, faculty, alumni, industry partners, and all our stakeholders to advance our reputation and impact.”
DAEWON KOO, A RECENT GRADUATE STUDENT, SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDED HIS DISSERTATION, TITLED “ASSESSING SPRAY DEPOSITION AND WEED CONTROL EFFICACY FROM AERIAL AND GROUND EQUIPMENT IN MANAGED TURFGRASS SYSTEMS.” HE IS CURRENTLY A SENIOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND REGIONAL MANAGER AT MOGHU.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Showcasing the recent achievements from the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences undergraduate and graduate students.
Navdeep Godara, a graduate student, received the 2024 Gerald O. Mott Award from the Crop Science Society of America. “My most meaningful and impactful academic relationship is with my advisor, Shawn Askew,” Godara said. “He is not just an outstanding mentor guiding me through graduate school, but also teaches me how to be a good human being beyond scientific expertise.”
Megan Pollok, an undergraduate student, received the 2024 Global Visionary Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. During her summer internships with the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research and Virginia Cooperative Extension, Pollok assisted scientists in studying the effects of beneficial bacteria on hydroponic lettuce and winter wheat varieties, and conducted fieldwork on corn and small grains.
Vipin Kumar, a graduate student, received the 2024 Outstanding MS Student Award from the Southern Weed Science Society. Kumar is also a member of the Virginia Tech Weed’s Team, where he earned first place in herbicide identification at the 2022 Northeastern Weed Science Society Weeds Contest in Canada.
The Goal: Safe Food for Every Home
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARY MICHAEL LIPFORD ZAHED AND MEGAN POLLOK
It was a blisteringly hot day, near 100 degrees Fahrenheit — normal, though, in March for Kpone Katamanso, Ghana.
Sweat dripped and combined with dirt, building the texture we all know from days working in the garden. Chicago maroon T-shirts – and even a few emblazoned with “4 The Soil” – scattered the backdrop along with the smiles group members wore while covered in the sweat and soil.
The group carefully, but excitedly, constructed a community garden for the community of Katamanso. While commonplace in the United States, community gardens are relatively new to Ghana.
The shared goal of safe food for every home united every person in the community and is what brought two Virginia Tech students to Ghana during spring break in March.
With a passion for food sovereignty and food security for all, Mary Michael Lipford Zahed, a graduate student in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center, and Megan Pollok, a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, built upon Zahed’s expertise and experience to help a global community.
“We wanted to find out the needs of this specific community and work from there,” Zahed said. “While most of us involved with the project had worked in Ghanaian communities before, this was a new area of the country for us. We learned about the community needs and the space so that this would be something that the people could maximize to help their lives and community excel.”
The community garden plans were developed in conjunction with Jeanette Ankoma-Sey, a Ghanaian-American professional landscape designer in Northern Virginia, and Virginia Tech horticulture alumni.
The design used feedback from the community to be able to help family members produce enough food for their families - specifically, foods they would enjoy and look forward to eating, such as okra, tomatoes, hot peppers, and carrots.
“Every step of the way, we made sure that this garden is something that is sustainable,” Zahed said. “Every decision we made was intentional and made jointly with the Katamanso community so that they were a part of the process from day one.”
The community garden needed to be truly theirs, she said.
“I learned about this in the classroom, but how do I create this and make this a project that’s sustainable?” Pollok said. “Sometimes, when we think about doing work in communities, we have an idea in our mind about what that should look like. This project helped me to see that really at the forefront of everything, you must keep the community members in mind and ask what they need and what you can do for them.”
This work began years ago as a seed of inspiration from Ozzie Abaye ’92, professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Science, who has spent years helping communities in Africa.
Zahed didn’t know she wanted to study agriculture, but Abaye, now the Thomas B. Hutcheson Jr. Professor of Agronomy, showed her the impact that agriculture has on the world.
Zahed learned that without basic needs met, people can’t be the best versions of themselves, which led her to take a life-changing position 5,100 miles away from home in Ghana in 2021.
From there, she saw an opportunity to connect with her mentor about a crosscultural collaboration.
Frank Kwekucher Ackah, professor of crop science at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, visited Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus in August 2023 to gather ideas and methods to improve community gardening in Ghana and see how Cooperative Extension in Virginia works. Ackah started a Facebook group called Home Gardening Ghana, which has grown to more than 287,000 members and spans beyond the Ghanaian border. He’s focused on fighting food insecurity through urban agriculture and urban community gardening, including home gardening. Ackah wants to expand this work across West Africa.
“This visit helped me know more about U.S. food systems and how Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension services are working together to support community garden groups in the region,” Ackah said. “It also exposed me to the various community garden groups, their structures, and how they operate so that we can build on it to improve food security in Ghana and other African countries, through restructuring of the activities of Home Gardening Ghana.”
This was where Pollok first met Ackah – and instantly connected to his vision.
“His purpose was something that I was extremely excited to be a part of and to help in any way that I could,” Pollok said. “We really leaned on each other a lot through our knowledge and experience. We challenged each other and how we could make the community garden a reality.”
Ackah’s insights into the operational strategies of community gardens in the U.S. provided a solid foundation for collaborative efforts aimed at enhancing food security and sovereignty in Ghana.
Ackah’s visit in August 2023, as well as Zahed’s work as both an undergraduate and graduate student at Virginia Tech, has led to cross-cultural collaboration from Virginia Tech and the University of Cape Coast to fight food insecurity. It also helped Ackah gain practical tools to expand Home Gardening Ghana upon returning to Cape Coast.
“You never want to devote yourself to something that doesn’t matter,” Zahed said of her year-long experience in Ghana. My year in Ghana “was a personal growth year for me. But we maintained our relationship and I hear from at least one of [the villagers] every day. That experience wasn’t just about me. It is much bigger than just one person and I’m thrilled to be able to help, even in a small way.”
ANTON BAUDOIN, AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, HAS BEEN GRANTED EMERITUS STATUS BY THE VIRGINIA TECH BOARD OF VISITORS. WITH MORE THAN 42 YEARS OF SERVICE, BAUDOIN HAS MADE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS THROUGH HIS RESEARCH ON GRAPEVINE DISEASES AND FUNGICIDE RESISTANCE.
FAC/STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Showcasing the recent achievements from the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences faculty, staff, and stakeholders.
Michael Flessner, an associate professor, received the 2024 Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award from the Weed Science Society of America. This award recognizes young scientists who have shown originality and creativity, made significant contributions to weed science, and demonstrate potential for continued excellence.
Greg Welbaum, a professor, announced his new book, Vegetable Seed Production: Biology and Technology, published by CABI, a leading global publisher of agricultural titles. The book explores the complexities of producing, maintaining, and improving the quality of vegetable seeds, which are vital for sustaining the world’s food supply.
Jayesh Samtani, an associate professor, received the 2024 Outstanding Extension Faculty Award from the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences. His research focuses on improving agritourism experiences for growers and consumers. Additionally, Samtani provides information on small fruit production to home and community gardeners, particularly those living in geographic areas identified as food deserts.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
“Your generosity provides students in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences with the resources they need to innovate and solve the environmental challenges of tomorrow,” said Benjamin Tracy, director at the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences. DONATE TODAY
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Students Explore Ecuador
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MATTHEW EICK AND MORGAN HARVEY
Immersive explorations of the Amazon rainforest, the Andes Mountains, and the Galapagos Islands are one of the ways College of Agriculture and Life Sciences students can spend their winter breaks.
Led by Matt Eick, a professor at the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, a group of students embarked on a journey to Ecuador to witness the intricate relationship between humans and the environment.
“The students experienced first-hand environmental issues such as climate change, plastic pollution, ecosystem degradation, and how our everyday actions and choices affect these issues,” Eick said.
Engaging with Local Traditions
At Hacienda Verde, a local organic farm outside of Ecuador’s capital, students met with Lucia De La Torre, ethnobotanist and owner of Hacienda Verde, to discuss sustainable agriculture practices and the importance of medicinal plants deeply rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems. Torre demonstrated how aloe vera can be used as a natural toothpaste and shampoo. Students also saw how the Cochineal bug is used to create a red dye for products such as oil, soap, and cosmetics.
Visiting a local clinic for Indigenous Quichua that combines traditional and Western medicine, students had the opportunity to witness a local medicine woman, or yatchak, conduct a cleansing ritual using an egg and herbal plants on one of the students. The purpose of this ritual is to determine the individual’s ailments and is often used in conjunction with traditional Western medicine for Indigenous populations, especially those who are older and may be skeptical of Western medicine.
Artisanal weaving with Indigenous people from Otavolo also made its way onto the trip’s itinerary. The group of students harvested reeds and weaved them into baskets to be sold at a local market. Natural dyes made from local plants were used to add color to the baskets.
Students even had the opportunity to experience Ecuador’s natural beauty and waterways with a kayaking expedition at Lake Lago San Pablo.
Witnessing Environmental Issues
“As an environmental science major and a nature lover, the most impactful part was seeing the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest firsthand,” said Morgan Harvey, a student in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences.
Deep in the Amazon rainforest, students interacted with the Huaorani community. Discussions centered on the impact of oil drilling, deforestation for road construction, and the complex dynamics of Indigenous communities adapting to modern pressures while striving to preserve their heritage.
In the Andes mountains, students ventured into the Paramo, an alpine tundra with unique vegetation and soils. They witnessed the impacts of mining,
agriculture, and grazing, highlighting the delicate balance between human activities and ecosystem health.
The expedition culminated in the Galapagos Islands, where students were immersed in the challenges facing marine ecosystems, including overfishing, tourism pressures, and plastic pollution. The impact of plastic pollution became especially clear as students snorkeled along the beaches of San Cristóbal, witnessing its effects firsthand.
More than 60 Awards in Weed Science
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHAWN ASKEW
A diverse group of Virginia Tech graduate students from across the globe –Honduras, India, South Korea, and the United States – earned international and national awards for turfgrass research under the leadership of Shawn Askew, professor at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Askew manages the Turfgrass Weed Science Lab, where he leads the development and evaluation of new herbicides, organic and cultural weed control, diagnostic and application technology, and environmental effects of weed management in turfgrass.
Graduate students in Askew’s lab work on research projects including using lasers to eliminate weeds, determining how herbicides change the way insects behave, and measuring the force it takes to eliminate weeds with specialized tools.
Four School of Plant and Environmental Sciences graduate students who work in Askew’s lab were recently honored with the following awards:
John Peppers, a postdoctoral researcher from Snead, Alabama, received the 2024 Award of Excellence from the Musser International Turfgrass Foundation. This international honor, granted to only one student per year, was accompanied by a $45,000 honorarium.
Navdeep Godara of India received second place at the Tri-Societies
International Meeting in St. Louis for his research poster on glyphosate residues within zoysiagrass turf canopies during rainfall. Godara also earned second place for his oral presentation on turf protection product impacts.
Daewon Koo of South Korea claimed second place at the Northeastern Weed Science Society annual meeting in Boston in the scientific poster competition.
Juan Romero of Honduras took first place at the Southern Weed Science Society and Weed Science Society of America Joint Meeting in San Antonio for
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STUDENTS COLLECTING NIGHTTIME AERIAL IMAGES OF UV-REFLECTIVE DYE TO HELP INDICATE THE DEPOSITION PATTERNS FROM VARIOUS SPRAY EQUIPMENT USED IN THE TURFGRASS INDUSTRY.
his poster on the use of thermal energy and organic chemicals for weed control in turfgraass.
This team of four students has completed over 200 research trials; delivered approximately 30 Extension presentations; published 53 abstracts from scientific presentations at 12 scientific conferences in Canada, Denmark, India, Thailand, and the U.S.; and contributed to 18 peer-reviewed publications. Collectively, they have won over 60 awards, scholarships, or travel grants since 2022.
“Each student brings their own unique skills and disciplinary focus to enhance the diversity of outcomes in my lab,” Askew said. “I’m very proud of what our team has accomplished.”
Researcher Receives Grant to Study Tropical Rainforest Ecology
PHOTOS COURTESY OF LEIGHTON REID
J. Leighton Reid and his team have an opportunity to research the most efficient and cost-effective means of restoring a tropical rainforest in Ecuador.
Reid, assistant professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, received a $600,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award to research the back-and-forth relationship between vegetation and animals in the Chocó Biogeographical Region.
“Those initial species of plants that establish in the landscape are influencing the types of animals that come, which is influencing the type of seeds that arrive, and that’s going to be the best predictor of what the ultimate tree community is going to be,” said Reid, who recently led a team that received a Destination Area 2.0 grant, awarded for transdisciplinary research teams who are focused on solving complex global problems.
As a part of the five-year project, he will also create a two-year program for undergraduate students who will assist in monitoring the site and tracking animals.
“The decisions made now about how and where to restore the environment will have profound impacts on climate stability, biodiversity persistence, and social equity for generations,” said Reid, a faculty affiliate of the Global Change Center. “Ecologically, these impacts will be determined by the outcomes of community assembly, which I propose are tightly linked to the composition, diversity, and spatial structure of trees planted by land managers.”
Healthy rainforests are vital in the fight against global warming. They absorb carbon in the atmosphere to help maintain a cooler planet and are home to the world’s most diverse assemblages of plants and animals.
One such region is the Chocó rainforest, a biodiversity hotspot and home to 62 bird species found nowhere else in the world, according to Reid, a faculty affiliate of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute. He said that 96 percent of the lowland rain forest in Ecuador has been deforested for agriculture.
Head of the Restoration Ecology Working Group, Reid has been collaborating since 2021 with the international scientists
affiliated with the Fundación para la Conservación de los Andes Tropicales (FCAT), a community-based nongovernmental organization composed of local residents and scientists. The group has been purchasing deforested land in the Chocó biographical region from private landowners and now has 1,546 acres toward a goal of building a corridor from the rainforest to the wetlands of Laguna de Cube.
For this research, Reid designed 12 experimental ecological restoration sites that are within the Chocó region. These sites cover 65 acres and provide the unique ability to study the most efficient and costeffective means of restoring the ecology of a rainforest on a much bigger scale than is often possible.
The Magazine of SPES is published bi-annually for alumni, faculty, staff, students, and stakeholders, of the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences.
Editor
Tyler Bauguess
Contributions
Shawn Askew, Scott Douglas, Matthew Eick, Max Esterhuizen, Michael Evans, John Galbraith, Michael Goatley, Morgan Harvey, Mary Michael Lipford Zahed, Megan Pollok, Leighton Reid, Vijay Singh, Felicia Spencer, Benjamin Tracy, and Greg Welbaum.
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