Elizabeth Smith, a former NSF Graduate Research Fellow and UD Plant and Soil Sciences Ph.D. alumna, investigated soil respiration using machine learning to better understand its role in the global carbon cycle. Analyzing two decades of data from multiple datasets, her research revealed unexpected patterns in national and global soil respiration trends. Now a postdoctoral researcher at Georgia Tech, Smith is expanding her computational expertise to study enhanced rock weathering, a technique for carbon capture in agriculture. Passionate about science communication, she also works to make environmental research more accessible, bridging the gap between scientific discovery and public understanding.

Food science and chemical engineering double major Gensure is exploring how yeast cells take excess carbon and store it as oils. He is aiming to find ways to reduce costs by using agricultural waste to fuel yeast cells. Gensure is also investigating how he can control what kinds of oils the cells can create.

Graduate students Lauren Irwin, Shiv Singla and Adelaide Mullin planned and organized the University of Delaware’s first Carroll Symposium. The student-led event was possible thanks to a generous donation made in honor of UD’s Bob Carroll, emeritus professor. The event, which included a research presentation competition, also served as a reunion for UD’s Bob Carroll and the plant pathology community.

Deb Jaisi has received the 2024 Jackson Soil Chemistry and Mineralogy Award from the Soil Science Society of America, which honors advanced soil chemistry and minerals research. In the Environmental Biogeochemistry Lab, Jaisi investigates phosphorus, a critical element for plant fertilizers and a notoriously scarce nutrient.