CFANS Research Symposium showcases exciting student, postdoc research
March 26, 2025
The 2025 CFANS Research Symposium on March 20 brought together undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to share their research projects in agricultural innovation, natural resource and environmental sciences. The third annual event highlighted diverse and innovative research projects undertaken by CFANS students, providing a platform for them to share their findings and refine their presentation skills.
This year’s symposium featured an impressive 13 oral presentations and 89 poster presentations (open Proceedings PDF to view all 2025 abstracts).
The Symposium also recognized outstanding research with the Distinguished Presenter Awards:
Distinguished Oral Presenter Award Recipients:
- Hijab Zehra, Graduate Student, Food Science and Nutrition – Impact of Fecal Microbiota Transplant Therapy on IBS Severity Symptoms in Patients with Recurrent Clostridioides difficile Infection
- Charlotte Brault, Post-Doc, Agronomy and Plant Genetics – Improving Prediction of Disease Resistance in Wheat Using Genotype-by-Environment Interaction
Distinguished Poster Presenter Award Recipients:
- Samuel Overfors, Graduate Student, Conservation Sciences – Do White-tailed Deer Fawn Behaviors Impact Space Use in Their First Summer of Life?
- Reier Erickson, Undergraduate Student, Forest and Natural Resource Management – Exploring Racial Discrimination as a Water-based Recreation Constraint to Black Minnesotans Along Minnesota's North Shore
- Samrawit Gebeyehu, Graduate Student, Animal Science – Simulation Analysis of Breeding Strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa Dairy Cattle Production Improvement
- Tsung-Yueh Peng, Graduate Student, Food Science – Lactic Acid as a Plasticizer of Whey Permeate Powders
- Nandin Ganjoloo, Graduate Student, Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering – Building a Genetic Toolbox for Brown Rot Fungi: The Flashlight
Undergraduate symposium participant and Animal Science major Sophia Faith Wendt presented her work on “Creating Protein Degradation Curves of Pennycress and Camelina Meals with the 3-Stop Procedure." Over the past two years, she has worked under the mentorship of Isaac Salfer, conducting research that explores sustainable solutions for agricultural byproducts.
"The main part of this research is looking into the sustainability side of agriculture," said Wendt. "When you harvest camelina and pennycress for biofuel, you have leftover meal. What do you do with it? Feed it to our animals! Dairy cows are great recyclers, turning less-than-excellent feeds into really productive things like milk."
Participating in the Symposium provided Wendt with a valuable opportunity to practice presenting her work in advance of the American Dairy Science Association’s national conference.
Milena Saqui-Salces, Associate Dean for Research, Graduate Programs and Faculty Development, emphasized the importance of the Symposium in fostering a collaborative research community.
The CFANS Research Symposium continues to serve as a crucial platform for students to engage in meaningful academic discourse and gain experience presenting their work.
Interested in doing research as an undergraduate student? See resources from CFANS Student Services for ways to get started.
