Through the Semester We Roll

It is already week 7 at Purdue and we are having a ball! With the new fall feeling weather, campus has shifted to a more serious work and study environment (with all the fun and excitement as usual). Football is in full swing and the wind is beginning to blow under the Math Building, an experience you will never forget!  
Classes are in the midst of first round of exams, which means libraries are busier and Starbucks is making more money!! My favorite study places are my bed and the Crops Resource Center. I love being in the CRC in Lilly Hall because there are always people around to help. Professors stop in often and I am surrounded by my friends and classmates. This space was made possible by a generous donation from Beck's Hybrids, and we are so grateful for that! 
Career Fair is tomorrow! That means time for suits, resumes, elevator speeches, and job interviews. As a senior, this is my last round of presenting myself and my skill set to so many companies at once. Following the fair, interviews will be conducted on campus and around the country for full time employment. I am so thankful that Purdue hosts such a great event to set all of the students up with the best career starts! 

Boiler Up!
Christy Kettler 

Semester Update!!

Hello,

My name is Abigail Clark, and you may have read a post from me during the summer. I mentioned I was about to leave for Ireland on my last post. I had a wonderful time in Ireland!! We spent around 19 days taking a bus all around Ireland. We went to Galway, Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Cong, Dingle Peninsula, and many more places. We were studying the Equine Industry in Ireland so we saw some of their National Stud Farms, horse training facilities, Galway races, and of course we experienced the culture! The trip was made possible because of the awesome opportunities there are for studying abroad with Purdue. The first picture I have here is when we visited a local sheep herder and he trained sheep dogs. If you have ever watched Marley and Me and the scene where they get stopped in their car because of the sheep on the road it was the guy in the pictures sheep.
Though it was an amazing trip we had to come back and now I am in full swing with my last fall semester here at Purdue. I am enjoying being back at Purdue!

This is the whole group that went and our awesome bus driver!

I will always cherish the memories I made in Ireland and hope to return one day!

Seventh Week!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Sarah Voglewede, and I am a sophomore studying Agronomy with a concentration in Business and Marketing and a minor in Food and Agribusiness Management. I cannot believe that we are entering our seventh week here on campus this semester! It has gone by even faster my second year around! I have been pretty involved in Agronomy Club and my Student Ambassador positions. Exams are in full swing right now, and I'm looking forward to fall break! I currently don't have any set plans, but not being in class and enjoying the fall weather will be a blessing!

The career fair is also this week! I hope everyone is planning on going! It is a great opportunity to meet potential employers as well as brush up on "soft" skills that employers are looking for. I was really nervous about going my freshman year, but after a few hours I had two interviews for the next day. I ended up getting an internship this past summer that will help me get my dream internship this summer. It can be really intimidating to walk into a room filled with recruiters and older students, but just remember that you are there to further your career and network. My best advice is to ask the recruiters questions. It shows that you at invested in their company and the job opening they have available.

Good luck to everyone! If you have any questions or need help let me know (svoglewe@purdue.edu)!

Sarah Voglewede

Summer '16

Intern visit to Dow AgroSciences Headquarters

Hey everyone!  Fall is officially here, and I can’t believe we have already entered the sixth week of school.  Looking back a few months, I can’t help but miss summer and all the awesome people I met and things I learned. 

            From May through August, I worked as a Corn Breeding Intern for Dow AgroSciences in Fowler, IN.  The Fowler location is devoted to corn research, so I learned a lot about basic crop production and specific breeding methods.  It was very interesting being able to apply things that I had learned about in my previous classes to what actually goes on in a breeding research field.  Throughout the summer, I helped collect yield data, organized and prepared seed for planting, and managed a pollination crew.  I even had the opportunity to look at plots in Ohio and Michigan- 

both which were extremely fun trips.

Ryan was very excited
to pull volunteer corn

Emily made my birthday fantastic!

            Along the way, I also met some pretty incredible people.  Two people I got really close to this summer were Emily and Ryan.  Emily is a Benton County native, who is going to school for special education at Indiana Wesleyan.  Her role at Dow AgroSciences was being the Safety Manager, and she definitely did a fantastic job making sure none of us got dehydrated in the fields and bandaged up my fingers whenever they got cut.  She’s probably one of the sweetest people I have ever met, and has great taste in music.  Ryan is a biochemistry major at Purdue who is really interested in herbicide research.  He is very laid back and was good sport working in a field group of all girls.  Being away from my friends this summer, I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to celebrate my birthday, but Emily and Ryan made it such a fantastic night, and my summer seriously would not have been the same without all the awesome memories we made together. 

            I can’t go without mentioning how friendly and awesome the full-time employees were.  They were extremely willing to teach us essentially all that we wanted to learn a  Several times, they would sit us all down in the conference room and give presentations on plant breeding concepts and the history of maize.  Having this additional educational aspect to the internship really enhanced our understanding of why we did things the way we did in the fields and how truly important and exciting the research is that goes behind developing new lines.  Juan, the corn breeder, taught me a lot this summer about the different characteristics selected for in male and female corn lines, and he even helped me start a research project based on QTL’s related pollen production in male lines.

bout plant breeding.

            Reflecting on what a great summer I had this year makes me excited to see what’s in store for me next summer… but I also have the rest of my junior year to look forward to in the meantime. 

If you have any questions about Purdue University, the agronomy department, or the plant genetics and breeding program, feel free to contact me at wrigh272@purdue.edu.

-Hallie Wright

Hey future boilermakers (and prospective boilermakers!),

          For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sarah Letsinger. I am a senior in agronomy with a concentration in crop and soil management and a minor in history! I will be graduating in May (which is hard to believe). When I think about my time here at Purdue and about what advice I could give to younger students, a lot comes to mind. I could give advice on classes or student organization opportunities, but when it comes down to it almost anyone can do that. I would rather talk about figuring out what is the most important to you.

       Everyone here at Purdue has the end goal of getting a degree and a job. However along the way you often find yourself and what is the most important to you in life. This past summer I had the opportunity to intern for a company in Illinois. They would have paid me well and it would have been a great experience, but my last summer at home I made the decision I wanted to be with my family. I took an internship with Co-Alliance in my hometown. It was more important to me to be able to see them every day, have the opportunity to go on vacation, helping out on the farm, and cooking dinner with my mom. All the while I was able to work for a great company and even better people! Many people push the idea of having students "go away" to get an experience. If that is what you want to do then go for it! But if you want to stay at home over the summer, you can still have a great work experience.

       Everyone who comes to Purdue for college expects to graduate with a degree of some sort, have gained knowledge and experience in their area of study, and have participated in many things that can be added to the resume. And while all of those things are extremely important, I think it's even more important to figure out what your morals, character, and interests in life are. Future employers are not only looking for someone who knows how to do something, but they are also looking for someone who can be a team player, comes to work with a good attitude, and works well with others. While here at Purdue (or wherever you go) I not only encourage you all to pursue your passions and education, but to make friends, get out of your comfort zone, and take time often to reflect on what kind of person you want to be and what's most important to you in life.

Sarah Letsinger

 

Purdue Part II

Hey current and future Boilermakers!

My name is Nick Roysdon, I am a sophomore studying Agronomy: Crop and Soils Management. This year I am taking a verity of agronomy and other agriculture related courses, such as Soil Sciences, Agriculture Economics, and Plant Pathology.

Sophomore year is interesting. You readjust to the college life a lot faster, but responsibilities accumulate fast. But I am enjoying it so far and love being back on campus!

Welcome to the new freshman, I hope your first round of midterms are going well. Purdue is a great place to get an education, but if you aren't careful you will lose track of things fast. Keep on it, but don't forget to have fun. And always feel free to contact us ambassadors for help. My email is nickroysdon@gmail.com, let me know if you need anything.

Good luck!

Nick

Undergraduate Research: The Hellbender Lab

Me and the snapping turtle. 

Hello All,

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Roni and I am a senior here at Purdue (where has the time gone!?) I am majoring in Natural Resources and Environmental Science and minoring in Wildlife. 

I currently conducting undergraduate researcher in Dr. Williams Hellbender lab. The hellbender is a giant salamander that grows to be 2.5 ft long and is endangered in the state of Indiana. Currently, the hellbender is only found in 1 river in Indiana, which is the Blue River located in southcentral Indiana near Corydon, IN. 

Wynadotte Cave Opening with Herbie. 

This summer I lived on the field site in O’Bannon State Park. I worked building cages, surveying for hellbenders in the Blue River, collecting macroinvertebrate and crayfish samples for my research project, and doing extension and outreach events for local fairs. I am currently still working on my project and will be traveling back to Corydon throughout the semester and to Georgia in October to collect more samples. Specifically, my project is looking at hellbender food sources and suitable release locations for juvenile hellbenders from our captive rearing and head-starting program (I can explain this all later if anyone wants more details). 

Taking of a wetsuit can be a challenge!

Crayfish are the main prey of adult hellbenders and larval hellbenders eat macroinvertebrates. I am measuring the abundance of macroinvertebrates and crayfish in the Blue River, IN (declining hellbender population); Indiana Creek, IN (no hellbender population) ; and Toccoa River, GA (healthy  hellbender population)  to see if Indiana Creek could be a potential release site in the future to help stabilize the declining, endangered Indiana population.   I am also doing extra extension and outreach event for the Williams lab on wetlands and amphibian health as well as helping out with a workshop put on for farmers to learn about different conservation practices to prevent soil erosion. The main reason for hellbender decline is siltation from farm fields. Hellbenders live in steams with fast flowing, clear water under large rocks. Hellbenders are important because they are an indicator species of water quality. Silt suspended in the water column settles out under the rocks where hellbenders lives, which displaces them from their habitat. The main job of our outreach efforts is to make the public aware of the hellbender, their decline, and what they can do to help conserve this species. 

If you want to learn more about hellbenders, go to helpthehellbender.org!

Naturally,

Roni

Veronica Yager