Supporting Undergraduate Research

As a University of Idaho undergraduate, Logan Mann got to present his own agricultural research at a scientific conference last summer, trading notes with industry officials, graduate students and faculty from several institutions.

Mann — a junior from Littleton, Colorado, who is double majoring in environmental soil science and chemistry — had the opportunity to participate in the 63rd Annual Society of Nematologists Conference in Park City, Utah, thanks to an $800 travel grant he received through the university’s Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR).

OUR provides financial assistance for undergraduates undertaking research projects and for students traveling to present their results at conferences.

At the nematology conference, Mann presented a poster about his research into the effects of soil pH on a devastating, quarantined pest of potatoes, called the pale cyst nematode (PCN), fielding questions from some of the top minds in nematology.

One of the people Mann met at the conference was a representative of Corteva Agriscience who helped him land a summer internship with the company. Mann also visited with graduate students from other universities who conducted similar research into how certain soil characteristics affect various plant parasitic nematodes.

“They would ask me, ‘Oh, what did you do for this?’ or say, ‘I like how you did that,’ and I’d ask, ‘Oh, how did you do this?’ or, ‘What have you found?’ There was definitely some curiosity,” Mann said.

Near the end of the first semester of his freshman year, Mann accepted a job working 10 to 15 hours per week as a research assistant under Louise-Marie Dandurand, a professor within the Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology (EPPN) who has directed Idaho’s PCN project since 2011. Mann still works in the lab, where he assists with upkeep, mixing soil samples and otherwise assisting graduate students.

Found in most potato growing areas in the word, PCN can cause potato yield losses of up to 80% if left unchecked. In Idaho, the PCN infestation is found on approximately 1% of potato growing land and has been contained within an 8.5-mile radius spanning portions of northern Bingham and southern Bonneville counties. Mann has also gotten to spend many of his laboratory hours working on his personal research.

In the fall of his sophomore year, Mann submitted a proposal that resulted in him securing a $7,000 stipend toward his PCN project from an undergraduate research funding program available through U of I’s Institute for Health in the Human Ecosystem (IHHE). Last summer, he received a second IHHE grant toward his research for $1,000.

Mann came up with the concept for the project, and Dandurand and one of her doctoral students, Paige Hickman — who is now a postdoctoral fellow — offered assistance and mentorship.

“Paige and Logan worked together closely. Overall, I think it was a good experience for her and a great experience for him,” Dandurand said. “Logan is so motivated. He thinks things through really well, he has great ideas and he’s passionate about research, and soils especially.”

Mann’s project entailed planting Russet Burbank potatoes in a greenhouse in pots with PCN-infested soils ranging in pH from 5.5 to 8.5. He collected data six weeks and 12 weeks after planting, evaluating tuber sizes, PCN reproduction, cyst hatching rates and different life stages of the nematode. His results may suggest a soil pH of 6.5 to 7.5 is optimal for PCN hatching.

Dandurand hypothesizes that soil calcium, which aids in hatching, becomes more soluble in that pH range.

“I think what we need to do to determine this conclusively is to do the experiment one more time, which we may end up doing,” Dandurand said.

Mann also found that a much larger percentage of PCN differentiated to being male at a pH of about 7.5.

Mann has been invited to present his PCN research, along with other U of I undergraduates who have received OUR grants, during the U of I Undergraduate Research Symposium from 2:30-4:30 p.m. April 21 in Memorial Gym. He also presented the project on April 7 during the IHHE Annual Research Symposium, hosted at the Idaho Student Union Building.

Mann plans to work in the agricultural sector for a few years before enrolling in graduate school after graduating with his bachelor’s degrees.

“I think I will get a master’s degree, and this project has helped me to determine that,” Mann said. “It was a good way for me to figure out, ‘Hey, do I like research?’”