Kashish Verma, a student in the agricultural and environmental plant science doctoral program in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been named a Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) Fellow for 2026-29.
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research created the FFAR Fellows Program to provide professional development and career guidance to the next generation of food and agriculture scientists across FFAR’s challenge areas and strategic initiatives. Each cohort comprises about 30 graduate students attending universities across the United States and Canada.
Verma comes to Penn State after earning her master’s degree in entomology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She will continue her research, which focuses primarily on host plant resistance in sorghum, in the Department of Plant Science under the guidance of Joe Louis, incoming professor and head of plant science. She earned her bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University in India.
“Being named a FFAR Fellow is a great honor, and I am really grateful to be a part of 2026-2029 cohort, which is the ninth cohort,” she said. "My motivation to apply for this program was particularly piqued by the well-rounded growth opportunities it offers.
Source : psu.edu