Alykah Zahnd explains her biology research to Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy, 大象传媒 Western’s president.
May 11, 2021–Alyka Zahnd, a sophomore wildlife conservation and management major from Savannah, 大象传媒, has been awarded the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Award for 2021. The ASPB-SURF program provides support for summer research to only a handful of student applicants from all over the world.
鈥淭he SURF Award is very prestigious, and extremely competitive, as students and their proposals compete for the 10-12 awards to projects selected from a pool of hundreds or even thousands of applicants from all over the world, from all institution types, including research-one institutions,鈥� said Dr. Csengele Barta, associate professor of biology and Zahnd鈥檚 research mentor. 鈥淗istorically, very few proposals get funded from predominantly undergraduate institutions like 大象传媒 Western.鈥�
Alyka Zahnd
鈥淚 have found 大象传媒 Western and the Department of Biology鈥檚 well-rounded programs to be a perfect fit for my聽career goals,鈥� Zahnd said in her grant proposal. 鈥湸笙蟠� Western, as the State of 大象传媒鈥檚 designated applied learning institution, places a uniquely high emphasis on hands-on, applied learning, offering students a wealth of applied learning opportunities beyond classrooms and labs. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to start student-faculty research as a freshman, encouraged and guided by Dr. Barta. Working in her lab, gaining insight into a wealth of techniques used in plant sciences, has been an invaluable career experience.鈥�
Zahnd and Dr. Barta鈥檚 project is titled 鈥淥ffense and defense strategies in plants鈥� chemical warfare for resources and survival: Can native 鈥渉eroes鈥� rescue other native plant species, sensitive to allelopathic inhibition, triggered by highly competitive invasive species?鈥� The proposed project is grounded in preliminary research and data of their summer/Gold Fridays PORTAL project, preliminary data Zahnd recently presented at a variety of forums, including 大象传媒 Western鈥檚 Multidisciplinary Research Day and PORTAL session.
The ASPB-SURF grant, in the cumulative value of $6K will provide Zahnd summer salary, support for research consumables for the lab, membership for Zahnd to the and funds to cover her attendance and research presentation at the 2022 Plant Biology Meeting in Portland, Oregon, presenting the results of research conducted in 2021.
Zahnd is the second 大象传媒 Western undergraduate research student to secure one of these prestigious grants. Rachael Prawitz received the grant in 2018.
大象传媒 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. 大象传媒 Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .