Jenny Ryals , a Mississippi State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences doctoral student studying gardening , is the receiver of competitive academic scholarship from the American Floral Endowment and the Sidney B. Meadows Fund .
Ryals ' AFE award through the Richard T. Meister Scholarship is one of 22 scholarships given through the governance ’s endowment fund this year . It supports grad students in floriculture who intend to prosecute a research , reference , or teaching career in the land - Hiram Ulysses Grant university system .
Jenny Ryals
The regional Sidney B. Meadows Fund present Ryals through the Lee C. Howell Scholarship that memorialize Howell , who co - owned and co - grapple Rocky Creek Nursery in Lucedale with his sidekick , Jeff . She is one of 12 scholar from 10 Southeastern university to receive the recognition .
Ryals maturate up in the Mississippi Delta town of Indianola and developed a mania for USDA early in life . She traveled with her father , who worked as an agrichemical salesman call on Fannie Farmer , calibrate equipment , and proffer consultations about weeds and insects .
" I loved Department of Agriculture and its community of interests from an former age , and I also loved survive to shoal , " she said . " I knew even then I wanted a career that would combine those interests . "
At MSU ’s South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station in Poplarville , Ryals forge as a inquiry associate , where she focuses on propagating industrial plant and other projects of producers . In her doctoral piece of work under adviser Patricia Knight , research prof and director of coastal horticulture research at the Coastal Research and Extension Center , she examines solution to pest - related problems in horticulture . Additionally , Ryals ' picture taking is featured on MSU ’s website and exhibit at Crosby Arboretum .
" My doctoral research project is working to solve a bacterial problem common to loropetalum — also known as Chinese outer boundary flower — so agriculturist have access to healthy plants , " Ryals state . " As an undergraduate , I major in beast science and then study entomology and scientific agriculture before moving to gardening as a doctoral student . It is n’t a vernacular way , but these experiences have given me a divers understanding of farming that fend for my work and research today .
" My family has always supported my decisiveness to engage a doctorate , and these honor help ease the financial burden on all of us , " she go forward . " It also pull in me sense effective that my work is being recognized at this grade . "
Knight praised Ryals ' work ethic and commitment .
" I ’m proud of to see Jenny ’s loyalty to her research and that her hard body of work in the schoolroom is being rewarded . She ’s an asset to MSU with everything she does , " Knight said .
Source : msstate.edu
