He Jiang – Storkan-Hanes-McCaslin Foundation Award recipient for 2014-15
He Jiang – Storkan-Hanes-McCaslin Foundation Award recipient for 2014-15
Congratulations to He (Helen) Jiang, PhD student in Ecology & Environmental Science,
for receiving a Storkan-Hanes-McCaslin Foundation Award for the 2014-15 academic
year! Helen is studying molecular signals that regulate zoosporic behaviors of
Phytophthora erythroseptica, which is a devastating pathogen of potato. Helen’s research
is supervised by Dr. Jay Hao in the School of Food and Agriculture.
The Storkan-Hanes-McCaslin Foundation Awards are named in honor of Richard C.
Storkan, Gerald L. Hanes, and Robert L. McCaslin. A major aim of the foundation is to
encourage research by offering financial assistance to graduate students who are working
on soil-borne diseases of plants. The foundation was established in 1987 to support
graduate student research. To date, more than $400,000 has been awarded to 68
promising scientists. In addition to unrestricted cash awards (which range from $5,000 to
$10,000 and can be used for any purpose that will benefit the education of the student
including personal expenses), new awardees will also receive round-trip fares to the APS
annual meeting and are presented their awards at a luncheon attended by their research
advisors, previous awardees, and members of the Foundation Committee.
With the foundation’s support, Helen traveled to Minneapolis to attend the 2014 Annual
Meeting of American Phytopathological Society and receive her award. She presented a
paper titled “Compounds from Zoospore Exudate Serve as a Signal to Promote Zoosporic
Germination and Infection of Phytophthora erythroseptica” on August 13.
Congratulation Helen on this wonderful achievement!