Plant Science Says - Department of Plant Sciences & Plant ...

applying for jobs and trying to figure outwhat I wanted to do when I grew up.Simultaneously, Li Huang was looking for aresearch associate and Alan Dyer was kindenough to refer us to one another. (Thankyou Alan!) So, currently I am working with Liand am learning a lot of new things. I will beworking on stem rust in Wheat and makingsure things run smoothly in the lab. I amfinally growing plants in the greenhouseagain! I am very excited to remain home inMontana and be here in the PSPPdepartment. Many of you have alreadyassisted me in this new position and I amthankful. Most of you already know me; but,if you don’t, feel free to introduce yourself.Dr. Ren – Chaofu LuMy name isZhonghaiRen, apostdoctoralfellow in Dr.Lu’s lab. Icome fromChina(mainland),and got myPh.D. atShanghai Institute of Plant Physiology &Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.During my first postdoctoral training in UCR,my project was the mapping and cloning ofthe QTLs related to salt stress in Arabidopsis.Here my research mainly focuses onscreening the genes that contribute tohydroxy fatty acid accumulation in transgenicArabidopsis seeds. In my free time, I enjoyreading the Holy Bible, a book of life. I canget life and what I need to live my life fromthe word of God.New Graduate StudentsJill Grenon (Cathy Cripps)Before graduating from Humboldt StateUniversity with a degree in Botany, I spentmy life romping and skiing around NH. AtHumboldt I discovered many fascinatingthings including lichens and “Sierra cement”(a vast improvement over “East-coast ice”).After college I worked several years inOregon and Washington monitoring airquality using lichens. I moved to Montana aFebruary, 2008few years backand since havelived in variouslocationsworking oddjobs, samplingthe “coldsmoke” (yes, Ialso mean thebeer), andlearning newpassions suchas hunting.Over the pastfew years the desire to return to graduateschool had been growing and growing andgrowing, and thus here I am, a graduatestudent of Cathy Cripps, working with fungiand Whitebark pine.Brekke Peterson (Bill Hoch)I moved toBozemanthree yearsago to attendMSU. Iobtained aB.S. inBiotechnology- Animalsystems.While at MSUI had theopportunity towork withDavid Sands and Alice Pilgeram, both of whohave been guiding lights in my decision tofurther my education in plant science. I willbe working on camelina with Bill Hoch for mygraduate studies.I am an avid fly fisherman and outdoorenthusiast in my home state of Wyoming. Igrew up around Sheridan, Wyoming and wentto college there where I majored inmicrobiology and ceramics. My free time isspent with my dog, traveling, reading, andsnowshoeing seeing how we finally have hada winter! During the summer months, I havebeen a caretaker for Tongue River ReservoirState Park and Rosebud Battlefield State Parkin the southeast corner of Montana. RecentlyI embarked on a soap business adventure