FFAR and North Carolina State Announce 2024 FFAR Fellows

August 21, 2024

Raleigh, NC

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and North Carolina State University (NC State) are excited to announce the 30 exceptional individuals who have been selected as 2024 FFAR Fellows. Comprised of 30 Fellows representing 21 universities, the 2024 FFAR Fellows cohort will participate in a three-year fellowship designed to prepare future food and agriculture scientists with skills that can better prepare them for the workforce.

The FFAR Fellows Program was established in 2018 by FFAR and NC State to provide professional development training to doctoral students studying food and agriculture sciences.

The Fellowship offers interpersonal communications, public speaking and project and team management skills that are critical to workplace success and often not offered in an academic setting. Additionally, FFAR Fellows have the opportunity to network and learn from industry, government and nonprofit stakeholders, which ultimately helps prepare the students for a successful transition to the workforce.

This is a group of truly impressive students committed to maximizing their personal and professional growth and learning about the multitude of options they have for successful careers within and outside of academia. Dr. Rebecca Dunning
Director of the FFAR Fellows Program

In late 2021, FFAR established the Rockey FFAR Fellows Fund to make the program’s professional development opportunities more accessible to all participants. This year, five FFAR Fellows received support from the Rockey FFAR Fellows Fund (these students have an asterisk by their name below).

The 2024-2027 FFAR Fellows cohort includes:

Joy Amajioyi, Colorado State University
Olufunke Ayegbidun, Washington State University
Sarah Brickman, UC Davis
Selvin Carrillo Ramos, University of Georgia
Laissa Cavallini, North Carolina State University
Debarshi Dasgupta, North Dakota State University
Joseph DeTemple, Iowa State University
Shalini Etukuri, Clemson University
Alexander Fast, University of Florida
Ryan Hamberg, Texas A&M University
Danielle Hopkins, Saint Louis University
Chidimma Ifeh,* Montana State University
Vipul Kumar, Iowa State University
Jesse Landesman, University of California, Santa Barbara
Hema Lingireddy, Purdue University
Paiton McDonald, Michigan State University
Jessica Mehre,* University of Wisconsin – Madison
Megan Mills Singletary, Texas Tech University
Sakshi Paudel, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Taynara Possebom, North Carolina State University
Haylee Reisinger, Michigan State University
Beatrice Robson, University of Georgia
Maria Rottersman, University of California, Davis
Letícia Santos, North Carolina State University
Laura Schulz,* Washington State University
Harrison Smith,* University of Arkansas
Hamid Syed,* Auburn University
Rogan Tokach, Auburn University
Melissa Vergara, Oregon State University
Tayin Wang, Colorado State University

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Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) builds public-private partnerships to fund bold research addressing big food and agriculture challenges. FFAR was established in the 2014 Farm Bill to increase public agriculture research investments, fill knowledge gaps and complement the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s research agenda. FFAR’s model matches federal funding from Congress with private funding, delivering a powerful return on taxpayer investment. Through collaboration and partnerships, FFAR advances actionable science benefiting farmers, consumers and the environment.

Connect: @FoundationFAR

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