Record 37 USDA Wallace-Carver Fellows

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Nicole Barreca, Director of Communications and Events
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World Food Prize Foundation Announces Record 37 USDA Wallace-Carver Fellows
Fellows are working with leading scientists and policy makers to improve our food system

(Des Moines, IA) July 18, 2016 - The World Food Prize Foundation and The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have confirmed 37 students from across the country for the prestigious Wallace-Carver Fellowship, which offers exceptional college students the opportunity to collaborate with world-renowned scientists and policymakers through paid summer internships at leading USDA research centers and offices across the United States. 

“The Wallace-Carver Fellowship exposes the best young minds in agriculture to the wide variety of opportunities available to them through civil service,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “Their experiences as Fellows will prepare these exceptional young leaders to carry out the vital research and innovation we will need to address the challenge of feeding a growing global population.”

Fellows will be stationed at USDA research centers and field offices across the country to analyze agricultural and economic policy; assist in the management of food, nutrition and rural development programs; and take part in groundbreaking field and laboratory-based research.

Today, 49 million Americans are food insecure and one in nine people on the planet go hungry each day. As the world’s population grows, food security remains a critical issue. Sec. Vilsack and Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, President of The World Food Prize, created the Wallace-Carver Fellowship to inspire the next generation of American scientific, agricultural, and humanitarian leaders.  Over the past five years, 148 students have gone through the program.

 “These students are among the brightest and most passionate young people in the country, and we are thrilled to connect them with these opportunities that put them on track for promising careers in agriculture and international development," Amb. Quinn said. "I am sure they will be the leaders of the future in global food security."

The Wallace-Carver Fellowship includes a culminating week-long, high-level leadership symposium at the USDA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., hosted by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. During the week, the Fellows will participate in a series of high-level briefings, tours and discussions around Washington DC with key government officials, congressional and humanitarian leaders engaged in the fight against hunger.

• CARLEY ALLEN | Arkansas Tech University | Placement: ARS, Plant Genetic Resources Unit - Geneva, NY
• BRANDON BEALL | Iowa State Univeristy | Placement: ARS, Tick and Biting Fly Research Center- Kerrville, TX
• SRUTHI BODDAPATI | Eastern Carolina University | Placement: ARS, Neuroscience and Aging Laboratory - Boston, MA
• ANN BRAVERMAN | Creighton University | Placement: ARS, National Animal Disease Center - Ames, IA
• THERESA BREHM  | Iowa State University | Placement: ARS, Functional Foods Research Unit- Peoria, IL
• MARIAH COX | Ohio State University | Placement: ARS, Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit- Athens, GA
• ANGER DOK | University of Iowa | Placement: ARS, Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit- Athens, GA
• LAUREN FILLEBROWN | Penn State University | Placement: Office of the Secretary - Washington, D.C.
• KIRSTEN FORSTER | University of Idaho  | Placement: ARS, Aquatic Animal Health Research- Auburn, AL
• JUSTINE FRERICHS | Davidson College  | Placement: ARS, Trace Minerals and Nutrition Unit - Ithaca, NY
• LANDER GEADELMANN | University of Iowa | Placement: ARS, National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment - Ames, IA
• GRANT GUSTAFSON | George Washington University  | Placement: Foreign Agricultural Service, Office of Capacity Building and Development - Washington, DC
• JASMINE HANSON | University of Nebraska- Lincoln | Placement: ARS, Animal Metabolism-Agricultural Chemicals Research- Fargo, ND
• SAM HARRIS | University of Arkansas | Placement: Risk Management Agency - Washington, D.C.
• EVA HENNINGSEN | University of Minnesota | Placement: ARS, National Agricultural Library - Beltsville, MD
• TAYLOR HINTCH | Iowa State University | Placement: ARS Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research Unit - Ames, IA
• RAEGAN HOEFLER | Iowa State University  | Placement: ARS Food Safety and Enteric Pathogens Research Unit - Ames, IA
• SIERRA MARI JAMIR | Cornell University  | Placement: ARS, US Horticultural Research Laboratory - Fort Pierce, FL
• ROHAN KANDEL | Cornell University | Placement: Food Safety and Inspection Service - Washington, D.C. 
• KIERA LEDDY | South Dakota State University | Placement: Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration- Kansas City, MO
• LEAH LUCAS | Grinnell University | Placement: Economic Research Service, Market and Trade Economics Division- Washington, D.C.
• GRETCHEN MOHR | St. Louis University | Placement: Office of the Chief Economist - Washington, DC
• GABRIEILLE MORRIS | University of Maryland Eastern Shore | Placement: ARS, Forage and Range Research Lab- Logan, UT
• SHANTAL PAI | University of Minnesota | Placement: ARS, Crop Genetics Research Unit - Jackson, TN
• BRADLEY PICKHINKE | Iowa State University | Placement: ARS, National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment - Ames, IA
• HOLLY PODLISKA | University of Nebraska- Lincoln | Placement: ARS, Tropical Plant Genetic Resources and Disease Research- Hilo, HI
• ABIGAIL SANDERS | Arkansas Tech University | Placement: ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center- Davis, CA
• STEPHEN SCHWARTZ | Purdue University | Placement: ARS, National Soil Erosion Research Lab - West Lafayette, IN
• MORGAN SMITH | Iowa State University | Placement: ARS, National Animal Disease Center - Ames, IA
• MADELINE TOPF | Carleton College | Placement: ARS, Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory - Beltsville, MD
• LAURA TUCKER | Iowa State University | Placement: ARS, Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research Unit - Ithaca, NY
• ARUN VELAMURI | Gustavus Adolphus College | Placement: ARS, Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory- Beltsville, MD
• THOMAS WILGENBUSCH | Iowa State University | Placement: ARS, Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research - Kimberly, ID
• MATHEW WILHELM | Texas A&M University | Placement: ARS, Soil and Water Management Research Unit - St. Paul, MN
• GILLIAN WILKINS | Augustana University | Placement: ARS, Cereal Crops Research - Fargo, ND
• CINTHIA WILKINSON | Iowa State University | Placement: ARS, National Animal Disease Center- Ames, IA
• MIKEL WRIGHT | Iowa State University | Placement: ARS, National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment- Ames, IA

For more information visit: www.worldfoodprize.org/usdafellows. 

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ABOUT THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE

The World Food Prize was created in 1986 by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dr. Norman Borlaug. It is the foremost international award recognizing individuals whose achievements have advanced human development by increasing the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. The prize was endowed by the Ruan family of Des Moines, Iowa. Businessman John Ruan III now serves as chairman of the Foundation and Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, former U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia is the president of the organization.  A Selection Committee of experts from around the world oversees the nomination and selection process, and is chaired by Prof. M.S. Swaminathan of India, who was also honored as the first World Food Prize Laureate. Other past Prize winners include former President of Ghana, John Kufour; U.S. Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus; Professor Yuan Longping of China and former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme Catherine Bertini.