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SHADOWING A RESEARCHER |
IN INDUSTRY |
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April 2019 |
UC Davis student
winner Victoria Fong
"I had my
shadowing experience at Intrexong and had a
great time. I sat in on a meeting and
learned about DNA extraction. Rio was a
great host. I wish I could have stayed the
whole day but I had to go to work." |
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March 2019 |
UC Davis
student winner Albre Brown, PhD
candidate at UC Davis in the Department of
Plant Pathology
"I was
fortunate enough to be awarded a shadowing
opportunity via Seed Central at Syngenta
Seeds, in Woodland, with Dr. Rakesh Kumar.
The team at Syngenta seeds was welcoming and
provided me with numerous insights on the
varying types of projects currently being
conducted by their enthusiastic
multi-disciplinary team. As a student I’ve
spent the majority of my career in academia
thus far.
Seed Central provides students like myself
with a desirable opportunity to network and
learn about research being conducted on a
broader scale, fostering perspective for
growth." |
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February 2019 |
UC Davis student
winner Victoria Fong |
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January 2019 |
UC Davis student
winner Shiyu Chen |
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October 2018 |
UC Davis
student winner
Shruti Fobla
"The shadowing experience is a good
opportunity to learn more about the seed
industry, explore career options and build
up network. It helps me to prepare better
for my professional development." |
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March 2017 |
UC Davis
student winner: Sabin Aslam |
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February 2017 |
UC Davis student
winner: Macarena Farcuh
Macarena's
testimonial:
Thank you Seed Central for the
opportunity of the shadowing and I also
wanted to thank you for the connection with
Bayer.
The experience in the shadowing with Bayer
was great.
They allowed me to rotate amongst all the
different teams working on the area of my
interest and everyone was very open to
answer my questions and take the time to
really make my visit worth the time.
I just wanted to let you know and give this
small feedback as I really enjoyed the
experience. |
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January 2017 |
UC Davis student
winner: Yuki Okatsu |
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December 2016 |
UC Davis
student Mengyuan Xiao shadowed John
Marchese, KraftHeinz.
She wrote:
"The
shadowing experience is a good opportunity
to learn more about the seed industry,
explore career options and build up network.
It helps me to prepare better for my
professional development." |
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November 2016 |
UC Davis student
winner: Xin Li |
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October 2016 |
UC Davis student
winner: Kimberly Gibson (Davis)
Hartnell College student
winners: Elizabeth Mersino,
Hisidro Gallardo, George Garcia,
Rosa Gutierrez, David Butler,
Tyler Armbrister (Salinas) |
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September 2016 |
UC Davis student
winner: Cyril Gulassa |
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April 2016 |
UC Davis student
winner Mohan Niroula |
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February 2016 |
UC Davis student
winner Cyril Gulassa |
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January 2016 |
special
roundtable event without drawing |
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December 2015 |
UC Davis student
winner: Lanxuan Wang |
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November 2015 |
UC Davis student
winner: Nestor Kippes |
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October 2015 |
UC Davis student
winner: Miguel Macias (Davis)
UC Davis student
winner: Julia Kingsolving (Salinas) |
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September 2015 |
UC Davis student
winner Hallie Casey |
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May 2015 |
UC Davis student
winner Mila Dec.Hull |
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April 2015 |
UC Davis student
winner Chad Jorgensen |
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March 2015 |
UC Davis student
winner Tim Butterfield |
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February 2015 |
UC Davis student
winner Erin Wilkus |
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January 2015 |
UC Davis student
winner Marta Bjornson |
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December 2014 |
event
cancelled |
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November 2014 |
UC Davis student
winner Gitanshu Munjal |
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October 2014 |
UC Davis student
winner Gena Hoffman |
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September 2014 |
UC Davis student
winner Nicolas Cobo |
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May 2014 |
UC Davis student
winner Brian Chau |
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April 2014 |
UC Davis student
winner Belle Smith |
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March 2014 |
UC Davis student
winner Brian Chau shadowed with
Arcadia Biosciences. |
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February 2014 |
UC Davis student
winner Belle Smith |
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January 2014 |
UC Davis student
winner Thomas Giang shadowed with
Arcadia Biosciences. |
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December 2013 |
UC Davis student
winner Mohan Niroula shadowed with
Monsanto Vegetable Seeds. |
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November 2013 |
UC Davis student
winner Jeanny Seatern shadowed with
Arcadia Biosciences. |
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October 2013 |
UC Davis student
winner Brian Chau shadowed with
Marrone Bio Innovations. |
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September 2013 |
The winner is
UC Davis student Rafael Munhoz Pedroso,
PhD student in Horticulture and Agronomy.
His main research interest is in Weed
Science with an emphasis on management of
herbicide-resistant weeds in rice cropping
systems. He expects to graduate in the
Spring of 2015. |
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May 2013 |
UC Davis
student and April winner Randi Jimenez,
Horticulture and Agronomy PhD student, Seed
Biotechnology Center, UC Davis, shadowed
plant breeder James Brusca at Syngenta
Seeds in Woodland.
Randi's testimonial:
I had the pleasure of shadowing James
Brusca on July 18, 2013 at Syngenta’s
research and field station in Woodland, CA.
I am definitely going to remember spending
the day with James and his team looking at
their watermelon breeding trials. The tour
of their station was cool in that it was
laid out from how they start with material
and how it makes its way to a variety over
time. This is my first field season, and
James and his team showed me how they
evaluate their crop in the field, which will
be really helpful for my own project.
Xingping Zhang was out in the field, too,
and he showed me how you could see how
Syngenta strives to innovate just by what
they have in the field. After spending the
day with everyone and learning how to pick a
perfectly ripe watermelon, I think I am
going to be a bit of a watermelon snob from
now on. I am so glad that I was able to
visit Syngenta, and the trunk full of
watermelons I took home was really great.
Thanks Seed Central for making this possible.
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April 2013 |
The winner is
UC Davis student Nicolas Cobo.
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March 2013 |
The winner is
UC Davis student Jorge Berny, PhD student in
Paul Gepts’ lab working with drought
resistance in wild and domesticated beans.
Jorge shadowed Ken Owens, CEO, Magnum Seeds,
in Dixon, CA.
Jorge wrote: First we went through the
new hybrids of cucumbers. Which it´s a
relatively unknown crop for me, since I´ve
worked with peppers and beans before. It was
very interesting and enlightening to learn
about the traits that are important for the
farmers and on the seed production side. And
see how progress have been made as compared
to historic and current leading varieties.
We then went through the hot pepper hybrid
trial. I´ve been a pepper enthusiast since
my undergrad years and have study or bred
peppers for 10 years. However, certain types
grown in more temperate areas, like the
Ancho type, have been quite elusive for me
since they are not grown that much in my
native area in Yucatan, Mexico. But it was
great to see the varieties of those peppers
that I´ve seen in visits to farmers fields
in Central and Northern Mexico, growing
quite nicely in the Central Valley. The
improvement of the newer Jalapeños and
Anchos is really impressive, so is with the
relatively minor types like Serranos and
"Gueros". The advance in disease resistance
and fruit size and shape is remarkable, but
being overall yield as important as always.
It is important to emphasize that Ken was
extremely friendly, and open about my
interests and questions. So was the staff at
Magnum Seeds. And most importantly I got to
speak the language of Capsicum for a whole
day, with one of the best hot pepper
breeders around. Thanks a lot to Seed
Central, Ken Owens, and Magnum seeds for
this opportunity!
I spent my shadowing day following James
Brusca, a watermelon breeder from. This was
an especially valuable experience as a plant
lab biologist to experience research in the
field and in industry. James gave me a tour
of the facility, including the fields, the
greenhouses and storehouses. I then assisted
in phenotyping watermelon reproductive
traits in the greenhouse and helped
fertilize watermelons to check the
phenotypes of certain crosses. I learned
what traits were ideal for Syngenta
watermelons and the process that watermelon
breeders undertook to make their perfect
fruit. I also assisted James in scoring
pathogen resistance in young watermelon
plants. It was amazing to see the difference
between susceptible varieties and the
improved, resistance varieties. Overall it
was invaluable to experience plant breeding
in industry, and I am very grateful to have
been given this opportunity. |
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February 2013 |
The winner is UC Davis
student Mohan Niroula, PhD Candidate,
Horticulture and Agronomy Group
May 30th, 2013 was a memorable day for
me. Thank you Seed Central. I had a
wonderful visit with two Syngenta plant
breeders. I arrived at the Syngenta research
station in Woodland at 8:00 AM. Dr. Rakesh
Kumar welcomed me in his office. He had
already carved out the agenda for the day. I
had the privilege of learning about the
melon breeding program, database management
and seed vault management. I also had a
chance to visit greenhouses and field plots.
Dr. Zhang Xingping invited me for lunch in
the afternoon. Together with his research
team, I had wonderful Chinese cuisine. I
spent the rest of the afternoon with Dr.
Modan Das. He took me to the real
plant-breeding field of wheat. He showed me
his selection methods and techniques. It was
a great experience. I got to meet two
breeders in a day and gained insightful
knowledge about their breeding programs. My
day was very productive. Thank you Dr.
Rakesh Kumar, Dr. Modan Das and Dr. Zhang
Xingping for hosting me and providing me
your shadow for a day. I look forward to
meeting you in future and may be working
with you under your guidance. |
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January 2013 |
The winner is
UC Davis student Gena Hofman, Plant Biology
Graduate Student, Pamela Ronald Lab |
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December 2012 |
The winner is UC Davis
student Hui Ean Teh, PhD
Candidate, Food Science Graduate Group. Hui
Ean had a shadowing experience at H.J. Heinz
Company's tomato processing plant, Escalon
Premium Brand.
I had
the opportunity to visit Escalon Premium
Brand, a tomato processing plant affiliated
with H.J. Heinz Company on August 23rd 2013.
The shadowing experience was started off
with Mr. Scott Adrian, the plant manager,
inviting me to join the daily management
briefing and tomato tasting session. Next, I
was showed around the plant, where I got an
up-close look to see how freshly-harvest
tomatoes were made into canned pastes,
sauces, and purees. Since the visit was
during tomato harvesting season, I was
fortunate to see the processing factory in
its peak operation where all production
lines were fully engaged. Then, I shadowed
Mr. Mark Shannon, the production manager,
where he showed me the tasks that he did on
a daily basis. He also explained some
long-term experimental projects that he
performed to increase energy efficiency of
the factory. Before the experience, I
thought a food scientist’s role in a
processing plant could be quite routine.
But, after shadowing Mark for a day, I
realized the job were very challenging and
involved a lot of problem solving with new
challenges to be solved every season, if not
every day. It was definitely an eye-opening
experience for me. Thank you Escalon Premium
Brand for spending a day with me on one of
the busiest days in the year and Seed
Central for arranging the wonderful
experience!
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November 2012 |
The winner is UC Davis
student Natasha Worden, Ph.D. Student in
Plant Biology, had a shadowing experience at
Syngenta Seeds Inc. in Woodland, CA.
Natasha wrote: I spent my shadowing day
following James Brusca, watermelon breeder
at Syngenta Seeds. This was an especially
valuable experience as a plant lab biologist
to experience research in the field and in
industry. James gave me a tour of the
facility, including the fields, the
greenhouses and storehouses. I then assisted
in phenotyping watermelon reproductive
traits in the greenhouse and helped
fertilize watermelons to check the
phenotypes of certain crosses. I learned
what traits were ideal for Syngenta
watermelons and the process that watermelon
breeders undertook to make their perfect
fruit. I also assisted James in scoring
pathogen resistance in young watermelon
plants. It was amazing to see the difference
between susceptible varieties and the
improved, resistance varieties. Overall it
was invaluable to experience plant breeding
in industry, and I am very grateful to have
been given this opportunity. |
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October 2012 |
UC Davis
student and October winner Randi Jimenez,
Horticulture and Agronomy PhD student, Seed
Biotechnology Center, UC Davis, shadowed a researcher at Monsanto Vegetable
Seeds in Woodland.
Randi's testimonial: I shadowed Terry
Berke on November 16, 2012 at Seminis in
Woodland, CA, which was set up through Seed
Central. It was a great experience to spend
a day with such a well respected
pepper-breeder and his team. Since I just
began working in pepper recently, I learned
a lot about methods that work for performing
pathology screens and de-seeding that were
super helpful. Also, I had a few questions
about my own project that Terry was able to
advise me on and give me the industry view
of some of the aspects of my project. He
also just gave me a good general overview of
pepper breeding and production in the
western hemisphere that is a good foundation
for the rest of my work. He and his team
were definitely a wealth of information, and
the emersion for a day was a terrific
learning experience. I am so glad that I was
able to meet him, and he welcomed me to
contact him in the future if I have any
pepper questions or ideas. Thanks Seed
Central for setting this up! |
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September 2012 |
UC Davis
student and September winner Cuong Tran
shadowed a researcher at Harris Moran Seed
Company's research station in Davis
Cuong's testimonial: The shadowing was a
pretty good experience. I've visited Harris
Moran once before, but it was good to be
able to talk to the breeders there and get a
look at the stuff they were working on in
their cell biology lab. I would say it
helped give me an idea of what I want to do
after graduation and later in my career. |
