UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Jennifer Dean, a graduate student in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, has received a 2008 Dissertation Award from the Penn State Alumni Association for her thesis titled "Chemical Ecology of Plant-Microbe Interaction and Effects on Insect Herbivores."

Dean, who received $5,000 as part of the award, is studying entomology. She says she became interested in plant-insect interaction as an undergraduate in the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University. "I was drawn to the entomology department at Penn State for graduate school because of its strength in chemical-ecology research," she notes.

Dean's doctoral research focuses on how plant defenses against insect herbivores are influenced by interactions between the host plant and microorganisms, particularly the relationship between legumes and nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria, which is important in increasing soil fertility.

Dean was nominated by her advisor, Consuelo De Moraes, associate professor of entomology, who says Dean is the first student in the College of Agricultural Sciences to be awarded both the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a National Science Foundation dissertation improvement grant.

De Moraes believes Dean's work will have major impacts and open new avenues of research. "She has consistently expressed a desire to contribute to the resolution of ecological sustainability problems through her work as a researcher and educator and is always looking for ways to enhance society through her research, teaching and outreach activities," De Moraes says.

Dean says her research can help lead to a better understanding of the complex interactions between plants and insects, ultimately contributing to more sustainable agriculture. "I am very excited to have received the award because it conveys to me that the university really believes in the work I have done here at Penn State."

###

Writer: Bethany Fehlinger Editor: Chuck Gill 814-863-2713 cdg5@psu.edu