FFAR Announces 28 FFAR Fellows

WASHINGTON (August 15, 2022) –Today the FFAR Fellows Program, established by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and NC State University, announced the 2022 cohort, which includes 28 fellows. The FFAR Fellowship is a unique three-year professional development training and mentorship program for doctoral students studying food and agriculture sciences.

Early career scientists often have limited opportunities to engage with industry and government leaders or develop soft skills critical to creating impact. To fill this gap, FFAR and North Carolina State University created the FFAR Fellows Program in 2018 to provide professional development for the next generation of food and agriculture scientists. The FFAR Fellows Program fosters interpersonal skills, communications, public speaking and project and team management, that are essential to workplace success and often not offered in an academic setting. The Fellows are also paired with industry mentors for additional career guidance. Ultimately, the Fellowship cultivates supportive relationships between graduate students and industry, government and nonprofit stakeholders to equip students with the skills needed to facilitate their transition to the workforce.

Last year, FFAR and North Carolina State University renamed the FFAR Fellows Program in honor of FFAR’s now retired executive director emeritus Dr. Sally Rockey and her commitment to supporting young scientists. FFAR also established the Rockey FFAR Fellows Fund to make the program’s professional development opportunities more accessible to all participants.

The 2022 FFAR Fellows include:

• Connor Balfany, North Carolina State University
• Jonathan Beutler, The University of British Columbia
• Sujata Bogati, Purdue University
• Ruth Eunice Centeno Martinez, Purdue University
• Sarah Chu, Texas A&M
• Mira Conyers, University of California, Davis
• Matt Davis, University of California, Davis
• Madeline Desjardins, Washington State University
• Lindsay Garcia, Oregon State University
• Vinicius Castelli Garnica, North Carolina State University
• Lushan Ghimire, University of Florida
• Katrina Klett, University of Minnesota
• Lidia Komondy, Cornell University
• Seldon Kwafo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Samuele Lamon, The University of Georgia
• Autumn McLaughlin, University of Tennessee
• Rose Mumbi, Purdue University
• Heeduk Oh, North Carolina State University
• Stephen Onayemi, Washington State University
• Kevin Orta, North Carolina State University
• Mariana Prieto Torres, North Carolina State University
• Riley Reed, Washington State University
• Olanrewaju Shittu, Penn State University
• Nikee Shrestha, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Samantha Surber, University of Georgia
• Federico Tarnonsky, University of Florida
• Destiny Tyson, North Carolina State University
• Mei Ling Wong, Montana 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