Meet Kylie Bucholz, future STEM teacher

Kylie Bucholz headshot

Meet RegenPGC Research Experience for Undergraduates intern Kylie Bucholz. She will be mentored this summer by RegenPGC researchers Dr. Shui-zhang Fei and graduate student Cameron Krumm. Here is Kylie in her own words:

I am currently a 2nd year Elementary Education Major attending Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa).  I am pursuing my K-8 Reading Endorsement and my Middle School Math and Science Endorsement. I am originally from Cedar Falls, Iowa. In my free time, I love to sing songs with my friends, ride my bike with my family, and color pictures!

I applied to the REU program because…  I think it will be a great experience that pushes me to become a better teacher while in a structured environment. This program will allow me to complete hands-on research that I can reference when I am working with my own students in the future. Additionally, this experience will push me out of my comfort zone by placing me in a new place where I will have to learn how to navigate around both Ames and Iowa State.

My expectations from the REU program are… to include many activities that will help develop me as a future educator, being put in situations that push me and are out of my comfort zone, and lots of learning! I will be completing research and attending professional development events, both of which will be completed alongside others, so we can learn together!

Why do you want to become a teacher? Ever since I was in 3rd grade, I knew I wanted to become a teacher, but it wasn’t always going to be in a STEM field. I didn’t decide I wanted to become a teacher in a STEM field until last year, but the idea had been growing on me since middle school. While I was growing up, I always excelled in my STEM classes and found myself wanting to learn more. This was due to my amazing teachers in elementary and middle school. My teachers were able to figure out what I enjoyed and relate my assignments to those things. They gave me extension activities to ensure I was being pushed to my full potential, and they supported me as a whole human, not just as a student.

Additionally, they encouraged me to join the robotics team at my school. By joining this team, I was able to push myself to do my best and think outside of the box when faced with challenges. It also allowed me to see how science and math have practical applications. Due to the amazing experiences I had growing up with my STEM teachers, the idea of becoming one grew on me. Finally, last year I had multiple different people mention to me that I would be a good science teacher and encourage me to explore that route. Ultimately, I have decided to take that route. I now want to become a middle school science teacher so I can encourage my future students to explore their passions and interests the same way that my teachers did for me. I also want to show them that they can do whatever they want if they put their mind to it. The STEM experiences that I had growing up had a huge impact on my decision to teach in a STEM field, and I want to ensure that other kids are able to have these same (or similar) experiences that I did.

 

Reporting research makes it real!

“Above all else, show the data.” (Edward R. Tufte). We agree! This is why we share our progress reports and all our research updates. Our Year 4 Q3 report shows our team moving towards our goal of “creating well-adapted PGC systems for a range of farm operations that require low labor inputs, provide significant ecosystem benefits, increase row crop resiliency, and have similar economic profiles as conventional row crop practices.”

You can check out our Year 4 Q3 report here. We think you will also conclude that we continue demonstrating strong momentum, with significant achievements across all five research objectives and four cross-cutting themes. RegenPGC is effectively transitioning from foundational research to practical application and knowledge transfer, positioning itself well for Year 5!

Field Day Season is Here!

Dan Andersen leads field day class

It’s not just summer; it’s field day season! Field days are our opportunity to share information about our project with folks working in agriculture. It’s the ultimate win-win —we share information and get feedback from people making a living from the land.

Our first field day event of the year, on June 20th, just north of Waterloo, IA, was a joint project with our colleagues at the Blackhawk Soil & Water Conservation District, who are leading the CIG grant*. We anticipate hosting several field days during the fall. Follow us on LinkedIn and BlueSky Social (‪@regenpgc.bsky.social‬) for updates, or shoot us an email for more details as they become available.

The turnout was excellent – we had a great turnout of farmers, NRCS folks, and ISU-PGC faculty, staff, and grad students. RegenPGC CoPD Marshall McDaniel (Soil Health & Nutrient Management) brought several team members. Graduate student Cameron Krumm (Plant Breeding & Genetics) was also able to accompany RegenPGC Project Director Raj Raman and CoPd Dan Andersen (Extension Theme).

The day’s highlight was the presentations by RegenPGC Collaborator Brent Wilson (Corteva, ret.) and Dan Andersen. Unfortunately, the morning’s torrential rains precluded a visit to Rick Rottinghaus’ fields. Still, they didn’t impact the fantastic hospitality of Rick and his spouse Mona, along with the organizational help from NRCS staff members Shaffer Ridgeway and Jenna Curran.

*Perennial Groundcover: A Scalable Systems Approach to Achieving Soil & Water Conservation with High-Yield, Row Crop Production in Iowa (Blackhawk Soil & Water Conservation District)

Seed Science Center recognizes RegenPGC’s Amina Moro

Amina Moro in the lab

This article is a reprint from the Iowa State University Seed Center, originally published online May 6, 2025.

Shedding Light on Shade Avoidance: Seed Scientist Studies Corn’s Early Stress Signals | Seed Science Center

AMES, IA – In the glow of the Seed Science Center’s growth chambers, graduate student Amina Moro is hard at work uncovering how corn responds to one of its earliest stress signals—shade.

Moro, an international student from Ghana and a graduate assistant to Professor Susana Goggi, is investigating the Shade Avoidance Response (SAR) in corn. This phenomenon, triggered when corn perceives competition from nearby plants, causes the crop to adjust its growth—often in counterproductive ways.

“When corn senses that it’s being shaded by nearby vegetation, it reacts quickly,” said Moro. “It starts reallocating energy to grow taller or change its leaf angles in an effort to capture more light. But that comes at a cost—less energy goes into producing strong roots or healthy grain.”

Her research focuses on how SAR is triggered when corn is grown in proximity to perennial grasses, specifically rye. These interactions are particularly relevant as farmers increasingly adopt cover cropping systems for soil health, which often include species like rye.

“In our study, we’re trying to pinpoint the exact distance at which corn begins to detect the presence of rye and initiates the shade avoidance response,” explained Moro. “We planted the corn and rye in separate containers and placed them at different distances from one another to isolate above-ground competition.”

By using controlled lighting and a strategic container setup, Moro can monitor changes in red to far-red light ratios—the signal plants use to detect nearby competitors. This enables her to identify not only when SAR is triggered but which parts of the corn plant respond first.

“We’re looking at how the plant reallocates its resources—whether it prioritizes stem elongation, leaf development, or other changes,” she said. “Ultimately, we hope this data helps farmers and researchers better understand how to manage competition in early corn development without sacrificing yield.”

As Moro continues her work, she’s optimistic about how these findings could inform smarter planting strategies in diversified cropping systems.

“Coming from Ghana, where smallholder farmers often grow multiple crops together, I understand how important it is to make intercropping work,” she said. “I’m excited to contribute research that could help make these systems more productive and sustainable.”

About the Seed Science Center

The Seed Science Center at Iowa State University is a national and international center of excellence in seed research, education, technology transfer, and global seed programs.

 Contact: Cynthia Hicks, Seed Science Center, 515-296-5386, cghicks@iastate.edu

New ideas needed? Find them at RegenPGC!

It’s spring! It’s always a good time to be open to new ideas on managing our land and soil in row crop production. Our @RegenPGC Perennial Groundcover Project does precisely that. We are working on new approaches to a lot of old issues, such as how to:
◼ Reduce soil erosion (reduced P losses)
◼ Reduce water runoff
◼ Increase water infiltration
◼ Improve soil quality
AND
◼ How to achieve greater stover harvest

Our Project Director, Dr. Raj Raman, has some ideas on these topics, which he covers in this video presentation, “Perennial Groundcovers in Corn & Soybean Production Systems: Potential & Scalability.” You can find the video at https://youtu.be/MYQcSBZXVXQ  and the accompanying Field Notes at https://iastate.box.com/s/fij94zkojl6kpaofkmepdk66cpzb0ij3.

New RegenPGC Video Series

We realize some of you may be new to perennial groundcover and its potential for modern #agrictulture. So, we have started a new series to acquaint (or reacquaint) folks with @RegenPGC and our vision for using perennial groundcover in row crop fields for all kinds of interesting benefits.. This first video features Dr. Ken Moore and Roger Hintz, two members RegenPGC Team who have the most experience of anyone trying to manage and maintain yields when incorporating perennial ground cover into a row crop system –so, this video – https://lnkd.in/gbdgz9mQ is for you. (See the accompanying Field Notes at https://lnkd.in/gHQsGpXP)

We acknowledge that some of you may be unfamiliar with perennial groundcover and its potential for modern agriculture. Consequently, we have initiated a new series to educate (or reeducate) folks in the agriculture sector about RegenPGC and our vision for introducing perennial groundcover to the row crop landscape.

This video showcases Dr. Ken Moore and Roger Hintz, two individuals with extensive experience managing and maintaining yields when incorporating perennial ground cover into row crop systems. This video, accessible at https://youtu.be/MYQcSBZXVXQ, and you will find the accompanying Field Notes at https://iastate.box.com/s/fij94zkojl6kpaofkmepdk66cpzb0ij3.

Over the next several weeks, we will be dropping in more from this series into our blog. Stay tuned!

 

 

Lübberstedt receives ISU 2025 Outstanding Achievement in International Agriculture Award

Thomas Lubberstedt Headshot

Dr. Thomas Lübberstedt, RegenPGC Co-Project Director of our Breeding and Genetics Objective, has been honored by his peers with the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Science 2025 Outstanding Achievement in International Agriculture Award.

In the RegenPGC project, Dr. Lṻbberstedt is the co-leader with Dr. Shui-zhang Fei of our Breeding and Genetics Objective, where his work focuses on evaluating maize x PGC (GxM) interactions.

Among Dr. Lübberstedt’s many talents is his ability to attract excellent graduate students, including many international students. He is currently working with RegenPGC graduate student Memiş Bilgici and PostDoc Yu Ru Chen. Throughout his career at ISU, Dr. Lübberstedt has been a major or co-major professor for 41 doctorate students and 21 master’s degree students. Additionally, he has supervised 17 postdoctoral researchers and 83 visiting scientists and students.

In 2024, Dr. Lübberstedt was also awarded the ISU Award for Achievement in Intellectual Property. This award recognizes individuals or teams of faculty and professional and scientific staff for outstanding university-based achievements in producing intellectual property.

More honors and recognition for the RegenPGC Graduate Education Community

Our 18-member Graduate Education Community (https://www.regenpgc.org/theme-3-education/graduate-education-copy/) never stops impressing us with their dedication to good research and the RegenPGC vision.* But this month shows what an interesting and talented group we have.

Hallie Sandeen (University of Kentucky / Mentor Dr. Erin Haramoto) received a 1st place award at the University of Kentucky’s Integrated Plant & Soil Science Department Fall 2024 Symposium for her poster “Evaluation of Poacae Species and Suppression Application Methods for Permanent Groundcover in Corn.” Earlier this year, Hallie was recognized as the Weed Science Society of America’s 2025 Photographer of the Year! At the Society’s Annual Meeting in Vancouver.

We learned Graduate Student Jack Moran’s (Iowa State University / Mentors Drs. Susan Goggi & Ken Moore) interesting backstory of how he made it from Multyfarnham, Central Ireland, to Iowa State University. Jack’s Iowa State University ‘origin story’ was shared in an article by the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Office for Global Engagement. You can read “From Exchange Student to a Master’s Degree: a Global Journey to Iowa State University” at https://global.ag.iastate.edu/news/2025/exchange-student-masters-degree-global-journey-iowa-state-university

*Our vision is to create well-adapted PGC systems for a range of farm operations that require low labor inputs, provide significant ecosystem benefits, increase row crop resiliency, and have similar economic profiles as conventional row crop practices.

RegenPGC Airs Webinar Series Jan-Feb 2025

Week 2 of our January- February 2025 Webinar Series, “UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF PERENNIAL GROUNDCOVERS IN CORN AND CORN/SOYBEAN PRODUCTION SYSTEMS,” will air live on January 21 at noon (Central Time).

Learn more about the entire 5-week series at https://www.regenpgc.org/resources/webinars/

Register now. If you missed Week 1, you can catch up on our YouTube site at https://www.youtube.com/@RegenPGC

Week 2. Selecting Perennial Groundcovers for Corn & Soybean Production Systems and Their Ideal Characteristics

Amina Moro (Iowa State University)

  • Crop Zone Requirements

Dr. Sara Lira & Brent Wilson (Corteva Agrisciences)

  • Techniques for maintaining a crop growth zone in corn and soybean production systems

Dr. Erin Haramoto & Kiera Searcy (University of Kentucky)

  • Chemical weed control options for perennial groundcover systems. Experiences & Options

Research is meant to be shared across the ages

Patrick Galland and Rickiel Franklin in James Wenman's 4th Grade class

2024 RegenPGC Research Education for Teachers participant James Wenman (Holy Trinity School, Waverly, Iowa) invited RegenPGC Collaborator Patrick Galland and Graduate Student Rickiel Franklin to his 4th grade class. We are unsure who learned the most, but Patrick had this to say about this unique experience.

“The students really seemed to have a blast, Rickiel and I had fun, too. We just went over our background (educational and personal) and went over the basics of how experiments progress through and what we hope to gain from them.

We then spent a good chunk of time reviewing Rickiel’s experiment (the one James worked on the most) and related the themes to real-world examples. James came up with my favorite; he compared the competition of PGC/corn over nutrients, water, and light to the kids with their siblings around the dinner table fighting over food. It got a good laugh out of everyone and was a very apt analogy. The biggest struggle for me was how to appropriately discuss topics in a way that was engaging and digestible to 4th graders, but James did an excellent job facilitating that. The kids were a pleasure, and I’m happy to help however I can.”