Three NDSU graduate students received honors during the 34th annual Plant Science Graduate Student Symposium at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, March 16-17. The symposium’s theme was “Cultivating the Field of Big Data.”

NDSU attendees were Sergio Cabello Leiva, Supun Fernando, Nathan Haugrud, Felicity Merritt and Nickolas Theisen from the Department of Plant Sciences and Shaun Clare, Cecilia Monclova-Santana and Rebecca Spanner from the Department of Plant Pathology. Haugrud, Cabello Leiva and Spanner each won awards for their presentations.

Haugrud won first place in the agronomy and weed science competition for his presentation, "Delayed Cultivation to Supplement Chloroacetamide Herbicides in Sugarbeet.” He is a master’s student from Rothsay, Minnesota, advised by Tom Peters.

Cabello Leiva took second place in the agronomy and weed science competition for his presentation, "Cover Crops Decreased Soil Nitrogen (N-NO3) Previous Sugarbeet Production in the Northern Great Plains.” He is a doctoral student from Chile advised by Marisol Berti.

Spanner won first place in the plant pathology competition for her presentation, "A Genome Wide Association Study to Identify Mutations Associated with DMI Fungicide Resistance in Cercospora beticola.” She is a doctoral student from England advised by Melvin Bolton and Gary Secor.

Participating universities are NDSU, the University of Manitoba and the University of Saskatchewan. NDSU will host the 2019 symposium.

As a student-focused, land-grant, research university, we serve our citizens.