Gretchen Ruschman
Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology | Athens, Ky.
Undergraduate research was the highlight of Gretchen Ruschman’s time at UK. Ruschman chose to attend UK because of its reputation for research.
“By attending an R1 institution that is dedicated to providing meaningful experiences in undergraduate research, I would have the opportunity to become immersed in the scientific community early in my education and career,” she said.
Ruschman took full advantage of those opportunities, joining several labs during her time at UK. Her involvement began with support from a lab in the Department of Horticulture, through which she completed three independent research projects that worked to understand the role of epigenetic mechanisms on soil microbiome assembly. The data will support future research aimed at generating plant varieties that have an enhanced ability to alter their soil microbiome.
“This will help create more sustainable agricultural practices so less non-renewable agronomic inputs will have to be used,” Ruschman said.
She is drafting a manuscript about this work, and she has already been part of two publications, three oral presentations and 11 poster presentations.
Research has instilled in me a unique passion that I will continue to pursue in graduate school and beyond. I now know that I would rather be a scientist above all else, and this realization would not be possible without the incredible mentors or opportunities that UK provided me.
