Vera Swanson of Rochester, MN

Her comments in response to learning

about being a recipient:

”I am grateful that students are encouraged to learn and grow through environmental education. Sustainability is an achievable goal when the Fund invests in students to carry on environmental stewardship.

It is my intention to utilize my horticultural education and skills in our country and hopefully share them in other countries. I aspire to complement my interests in Russian language and agriculture though work with the U.S. National Plant Germ-plasm System, a collaborative effort to protect the genetic diversity of agricultural plants, housed within the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. Dedication to this field is complementary to the fundamental sciences of air, water, and soil.

Asked where do you see yourself in the future, she wrote:

I have dedicated myself to the study of Environmental Science with a focus in horticulture while an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. I have pursued study in plant sciences through focused electives in the Department of Horticulture. I have been thrilled to further my study in the Department  because my experiences with the program’s faculty and fellow undergraduate students have been stellar. My appreciation for agriculture began with my enrollment in World Vegetable Crops, which stressed the importance of fresh and processed vegetables worldwide, and also provided an introduction to vegetable origin, history, classification, culture, marketing, physiology, genetics, handling, quality, and significance on world cultures and diets. The significance of geophysical factors, plant genetics, GMOs, and the impact of these perspectives on human health is central to my current academic and professional direction.