CFANS hosted their annual FirstGen Proud Day. 11/19/2019
Dr. Kimball celebrated with other first generation college students including Dean Buhr, faculty, staff, and students at the annual CFANS FirstGen Proud Day. As a first generation student herself, Dr. Kimball was very appreciative of the college highlighting this special achievement.
The WRBGC program attended the annual international ASA, CSSA, SSSA meetings. 11/11/2019
The WRBGC program attended the annual ASA, CSSA, SSSA meetings in San Antonio, Texas this year. Members presented three posters and gave two oral presentations on topics related to seed storage, crop phenology, and pollen travel. Great job everyone!
Farewell to Amanda Monson. 10/11/2019
We are sad to announce that Amanda Monson will be leaving the WRBGC program this month. Amanda has been an important part of our field program and has worked diligently towards improving our best management practices. Amanda will be joining a small company in North Dakota, her home state, where she will be working as a field scout. As I continue the tradition of naming a piece of important program equipment after someone's departure, our seed counter will now be known as "The Monson" for the one person who it never wanted to cooperate with! We all wish Amanda the best and know that she will be sorely missed. We would also like to thank the North Central Research and Outreach Center in Grand Rapids, MN for arranging a farewell party for Amanda.
New PhD Student joins the WRBGC group. 8/20/2019
We are very please to welcome Reneth Millas to the program. Reneth is originally from the Philippines. She obtained her BS in Agriculture from Visayas State University in Leyte, Philippines, and also worked at the Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Division of the Philippine Rice Research Institute for several years. Reneth completed her Master’s degree in the Agricultural Sciences major at Tennessee State University where she worked on the characterization of soybean with improved fatty acid profile through mutation breeding. As a Ph.D. student, Reneth will focus her research on performing QTL mapping and GWAS, with the ultimate goal of identifying markers that are associated with shattering resistance for marker-assisted selection. Reneth's fellowship is funded by the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Growers Council. In her spare time, she enjoys bicycling and hiking.
UMN Cultivated Wild Rice Growers Field day. 8/10/2019
The WRBGC program hosted a Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Growers field day at the North Central Research and Outreach Center on Thursday, 8/1/2019. Dr. Jennifer Kimball from the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, Dr. George Annor from the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Dr. Claudia Castell-Miller from the Department of Plant Pathology, and Dr. Ian Mac Rae from the Department of Entomology all gave presentations. Thank you to Riviana for helping provide lunch to the growers.
WRBGC program says to goodbye to Dr. Mingqin Shao and welcomes two new members, Dr. Matthew Haas and Cedar Palaia. 6/5/2019
Mingqin (Mike) will be sadly missed in our program. He was instrumental in getting some large genotyping projects up and running in the face of learning about a new, challenging crop! He also quickly developed an amazing raport with the growers and I know a few in particular who will especially miss him. Mike has moved to California where his wife took a job with the Department of Energy. Mike currently has the best job, taking care of his little one at home. We are excited for Mike as his family embarks on new adventures and can't wait to see what he does in the future. Good luck Mike!
Check out our people pages to meet our newest members, Dr. Matthew Haas and Cedar Palaia, and what they will be working on in this program!
WRBGC program participates in UMN Destination Discovery St. Paul campus open house event. 4/19/2019
Program member, Jacques Duquette, earns his Masters in Plant Breeding from Iowa State!
4/13/2019
The WRBGC team is incredibly proud of Jacques and all his hard work! Congratulations Jacques!
Pictured are Dr. Thomas Lübberstedt, Graduate Student Jacques Duquette, and Dr. Shui-zhang Fei after Jacques' successful Final Oral Examination conducted at Iowa State University on April 10, 2019. Jacques gave a presentation on "The Effect of Harvest Time on the Germination Rate of Cultivated Northern Wild Rice (Zizania palustris)" and was subsequently recommended for graduation from the distance learning program with a Master of Science degree in Plant Breeding. Jacques enrolled in the program in the fall of 2016, started classes in the Spring of 2017 and will graduate in the Spring of 2019. He is thankful for the support he received while working on this degree, especially from his family.
Graduate student, Clare Gietzel, discusses her research with the Department of Agronomy & Plant Genetics
4/10/2019
Please join us to cheer on Clare as she gives her first graduate seminar!
Clare will be discussing her thesis projects, which include the evaluation of microbial growth in our seed storage as well as the examination of pollen travel within the species.
The WRBGC Program's Talented Undergrads
3/7/2019. The WRBGC program is dedicated to experiential learning for our CFANS undergraduates. Our program has three undergraduate members this semester! Jacob Murzyn has been with us since the summer of 2018 and helps to maintain our greenhouse operations. Aaron Semington is working with Mike Shao on a population genetics project looking at shattering resistance within the breeding program germplasm. Sam Riggins is working with Clare Gietzel and helping her with her graduate thesis work looking at microbes in our seed storage and pollen travel in our research plots.
Learning More about Wild Rice Seed Germination
2/12/2019. Program member, Jacques Duquette, has been documenting wild rice seed germination and how the coleoptile and radicle emerge from the seed. How cool is that!?
WRBGC Group Presents at the Annual Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council Symposium
1/8/2019. Programs members gave talks at the annual MCWRC symposium in Grand Rapids, MN. With so many new faces in the program, this meeting was an opportunity for our growers to get to know our new members and for our new program members to learn more about cultivated wild rice from a grower perspective. We are also incredibly proud of Dan Braaten, the program's previous agronomist, for receiving the Council's 2019 Outstanding Service Award. Congratulations Dan!
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