National Needs Fellows in Agroecology at UF

We are seeking three highly qualified students to become National Needs Fellows in Agroecology. Agroecology is the scientific discipline that integrates ecological and agricultural principles that results in optimizing resource conservation, productivity, societal benefits, and sustainability. The National Needs Fellows program is a high profile, national fellowship that supports motivated and innovative students addressing critical educational and research needs in support of providing a sustainable global food supply. Fellowships are for a two year MS program and include an 18K annual stipend plus tuition waiver. The position is expected to start from Summer/Fall 2015 and is restricted to US Nationals.
The three project focus are discussed below:

• Increasing water-use efficiency and drought tolerance in peanut through the use of primed acclimation (PA). PA utilizes mild water stress through applications of reduced irrigation early in plant development to condition the crop for increased drought tolerance. This project would investigate the impact of this reduced irrigation scheme on diverse peanut genotypes, particularly focusing on physiological processes, yield, and grade.

• Exploring mycorrhizal associations and shifts in community structure in agricultural systems. The project would involve the investigation of soil carbon and nitrogen pool sizes and processes and comparisons among the following ecosystem types: abandoned agricultural fields, abandoned agricultural fields reconverted to conventional agricultural management, long-term conventional agricultural management, conventional forest management, and mature natural vegetation. In addition, the work would quantify the impact on plant host physiological functioning of these different mycorrhizal agroecotypes.

• Working with the new southeastern sesame industry through development of efficient water and nutrient strategies. Research focus is on the water use and fertility requirements for sesame aimed at strengthening the commercial production system in southern GA and north central Fl. The committee is working with this project.
For more information please contact Debolina Chakraborty (dchakraborty@ufl.edu).

Graduate Concentration in Agroecology: http://agronomy.ifas.ufl.edu/agroecology/index.shtml