Caleb Wehrbein, a horticulture doctoral student, was awarded The Mary and Charles C. Cooper/Emma I. Sharpless Fellowship for high scholastic and career potential.
The Cooper Sharpless Fellowships are available to recruit exceptional graduate students capable of benefiting from further education into the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. These funds are to be used to supplement an existing assistantship (GRA or GTA) with offers of $3000 for master's students and $5000 for doctoral students.
Wehrbein graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in plant biology in May. He was also awarded the Martin Massengale Outstanding Senior Award. Students receiving this award are chosen by the faculty and have shown exemplary character, high achievement in their classes and involvement on campus.
Since this summer, Wehrbein has been looking into the viability of using biodegradable fabrics for high-density production of specialty crops like carrots and spinach with his adviser Sam Wortman, associate professor in agronomy and horticulture.
“The fabric is unique in that it allows for weed suppression while also providing crops the opportunity to root through it,” Wehrbein said.
He has also been conducting strawberry variety trials while looking at whether strawberry runners are able to root through this biodegradable fabric.
“As I continue on, I think that I would like to focus my area of study on weed suppression in specialty crop production,” Wehrbein said. “Weed management can impart a significant cost to the grower in terms of labor needed.”
More details at: https://go.unl.edu/s4hk