The 2024 Annual Celebration of Research Week, held in coordination with the CFAES Annual Research Forum, provided an opportunity to emphasize the many successes of the research community in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Throughout the week of April 8-12, Research Week highlighted researchers in our college and hosted several events including a poster competition and the Research Forum.
For the poster competition eligible participants included currently enrolled or recently graduated students, post-docs, and research staff working on CFAES-supported projects. The competition encompassed separate categories for Master’s students, Doctoral students, Post-doctoral Scholars, and Research Assistants/Associates/Scientists (also referred to as Research Staff). CFAH was very well represented in the poster competition:
- Awards:
- Kush Yadav took home 2nd place in the PhD competition and 1st in the People’s choice division for his poster titled "Rat hepatitis E virus (HEV) cross-species infection and transmission in pigs"
- Saroj Khatiwada took 2nd place in the Master’s competition for his poster titled "Evaluation of reoviral arthritis in commercial turkeys derived from vaccinated breeder hens"
- Master's Poster Authors:
- Sara Dolatyabi - "Chitosan nanoparticle-based Salmonella Enteritidis subunit oral vaccine provides cross protective immunity in Broilers"
- Saroj Khatiwada - "Evaluation of reoviral arthritis in commercial turkeys derived from vaccinated breeder hens"
- Shonna Smith - "Comparative genomics of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from small specialty crop farms (SSCF) in Northeast Ohio"
- Raksha Suresh - "Evaluating the protective efficacy of chitosan-nanoparticle based adjuvanted oral Salmonella subunit vaccine against bacterial colonization in broilers"
- Anusree Thenissery - "Enhancing potency against avian pathogenic Escherichia coli: In vitro & In vivo characterization of synthetic analogues of a lead quorum sensing inhibitor"
- Doctoral Poster Authors:
- Menuka Bhandari
- Thamonpan Laocharoensuk - "Swine cell line susceptibility to porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) for genomic CRISPR knockout screens"
- Carolyn Lee - "Evaluation of Multiple Immune Parameters Following Vaccination with an African Swine Fever Virus Multiepitope Protein Nanoparticle-Based Subunit Vaccine"
- Kush Yadav - "Rat hepatitis E virus (HEV) cross-species infection and transmission in pigs"
- Judges:
- Pat Boley, Research Associate
- Ali Nazmi, CFAH Affiliate Member
Additionally, Gireesh Rajashekara was recognized as he was awarded the 2024 Distinguished Graduate Student Mentor Award for his work in upholding the CFAES mission in training and mentoring the next generation of scientists and leaders. This award recognizes the outstanding graduate faculty mentors who teach with passion, research with integrity, and inspire our graduate students to become the leaders of tomorrow.
- Gireesh’s research team is focused on studying animal health and zoonotic disease problems in food-producing animals using “One Health” approaches. Specifically, the emphasis is on the discovery of novel antimicrobials/probiotics and antimicrobial peptides to control foodborne and animal pathogens. Dr. Rajashekara is a highly productive researcher and more than 140 peer-reviewed publications and with multiple patents. As an advisor, he has mentored 12 Ph.D., 7 M.S., 10 postdoctoral associates, many undergraduate students and visiting scholars. He promotes interdisciplinary collaborative research, with the group working under his direction having a rich diversity being from more than 20 countries. He is highly committed to his trainees developing a foundation while working with him for their future professional success.
During the Celebration of Research Week, Scott Kenney, STARS Cohort member, was highlighted in "Why did you get involved in research?":
"I have been passionate about science and animals from the time I took advanced placement biology in highschool. Science has always been the most challenging academic discipline to me and I love that challenge.
I had many great mentors who continued kindling the flames of curiosity within me and instilled their passion for science. I still love the excitement of doing and observing things that nobody else has done or seen before while contributing to animal and human health."
- Dr. Scott Kenney, CFAH
Congratulations to all of our CFAH members - faculty, staff, and students - who participated and were recognized during the 2024 CFAES Celebration of Research Week! To view more details from Research Week, please visit the links below:
Annual Research Forum Poster Competition 2024 Graduate and Professional Abstract Book
CFAES Awards Recipients from Research and Graduate Education
Celebration of Research Week Highlights - STARS Cohort
