UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has awarded bridge funding to four faculty members to support research collaborations addressing soil fertility, public health, climate resilience and agricultural trade.
The awards, administered through Ag Sciences Global, range from $5,000 to $15,000 and are intended to build bridges and address temporary funding gaps. Projects will run 12 to 24 months and involve partners in Tanzania, Belize, Mexico, India and the United States.
“We were thrilled to receive so much interest from nearly every unit in the college and across almost every corner of the world,” said Deanna Behring, assistant dean and director of Ag Sciences Global in the college. “It is a testament to the college's global reach and our efforts to build partnerships that bring the best research insights back to Pennsylvania.”
The 2025 awardees and their projects are as follows:
Erika Machtinger, associate professor of entomology, and Michael Skvarla, assistant research professor of arthropod identification, received a $10,000 award to expand research on tick biodiversity and tickborne bacteria in Belize. Tick diversity in the country is largely undocumented, and this work will bolster U.S. defense against invasive species and their associated disease burdens.
Machtinger’s team has collected more than 1,200 tick specimens, with preliminary data indicating the presence of undescribed species and diverse Rickettsia lineages, bacteria that can cause human disease. The project will formalize partnerships with the Belize Forest Department, conduct systematic sampling across habitats and elevations, and support development of a National Science Foundation proposal with local collaborators.
Liana Burghardt, assistant professor of plant science and director of the Huck Center for Root and Rhizosphere Biology, received an $8,000 award to support collaborative research in Tanzania focused on soil fertility and food security. The project builds on partnerships with the University of Dodoma, a local nongovernmental organization and smallholder farmers.
Researchers will integrate legumes such as cowpea and lablab into cropping systems using low-cost seed inoculants made from legume root nodules collected from farmers’ fields. Funding will support field data collection and experiments evaluating legume cover crops and nodule-based inoculants under drought conditions, a novel approach with the potential to have a global impact.
Verónica Román-Reyna, assistant professor of plant pathology, received a $10,000 award to strengthen plant health diagnostics between the U.S. and Mexico. Agricultural trade between the two countries exceeded $78 billion in 2024, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The project will train scientists in Mexico in whole-genome bacterial diagnostics and establish the PhytobactoNet database of high-quality bacterial genomes. The effort aims to improve outbreak response, align diagnostic standards and reduce trade disruptions linked to plant health threats.
Femeena Pandara Valappil, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, received a $10,000 award to support research on urban flood resilience in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
The project compares stormwater storage performance in Pittsburgh and New Delhi, cities facing increased flooding from short-duration, high-intensity rainfall. Funding will support site visits, stakeholder workshops, data collection and joint modeling of decentralized stormwater systems. The research is intended to establish a shared framework and position the team for future international funding focused on urban flood resilience.