PULLMAN, Wash. – Jeremiah Dung, Ph.D. student in the WSU Department of Plant Pathology, earned first place in the American Phytopathological Society (APS)Pacific division’s recent graduate student paper competition. He received a certificate and cash award.
Dung joined the lab of Dennis Johnson, professor of plant pathology, in spring 2007 and completed his M.S. degree in 2009. His research focused on the epidemiology of Verticillium wilt in potato seed tubers and resistance to the disease in cultivated and non-cultivated mint.
Dung decided to continue his education under Johnson’s supervision. His Ph.D. work is focused on using DNA-based markers to determine the genetic diversity and spread of the fungus causing Verticillium wilt in potato and mint.
He also is investigating the epidemiology of bacterial stem rot with his M.S. and Ph.D. co-advisor Brenda Schroeder, assistant professor in the department.
Dung placed first (2010), second (2009) and third (2008) in the APS Pacific division meeting’s student paper competition and has been awarded three competitive APS travel awards. In 2008, he received the F.D. Heald Scholarship from the department of plant pathology and the J. De Weerd Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Potato Research from the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences.