The AGRO Division has established an endowment fund to be used to promote an understanding of the role of chemistry in agriculture. To address this goal, student awards will be made through the Division’s Education Committee.
The subject of the presentation should pertain to the chemistry of the AGRO Division. Topics should relate to pest management chemistry including synthesis, metabolism, regulatory, biotechnology, delivery, risk assessment, resistance, residues, mode of action, fate/behavior/transport, and agronomic practices. The AGRO Division is also interested in chemical products made from agricultural commodities and byproducts, including biofuels and the issues surrounding their production.
Selected undergraduate and graduate students were awarded up to $1000 each to help defray costs of attendance to give poster and oral presentations at the 2025 ACS National Meeting in Washington DC from August 17-21, 2025. First, Second, and Third place winners in the poster competition will receive an additional cash award. Please see the application form below for more details.
Sponsored by
APPLICATION (and ABSTRACT) SUBMISSION DEADLINE MARCH 31, 2025
Education Award Chairs:
Aaron Gross (Virginia Tech) and Sara Whiting (Bayer)
Please see the Call for Nominations document for detailed instructions on how to submit your application.
2024 Poster competition winners
- First Place: Sarah McComic, University of Florida
- Second Place: David Mualen, Ohio State University
- Third Place: Flinn O’Hara, University of Florida
2023 Poster competition winners
- First Place: Flinn O’Hara, University of Florida
- Second Place: Xixian Ng University of Nebraska
- Third Place – (tie)
Bashiru Adams, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Kenya
Brandon Bickley, Virginia Tech
2022 Poster competition winners
- 1st Prize – Juliet Ochola, Disruption of the chemical signaling between potato and cyst nematode Globodera rostochiensis. North Carolina State University
- Co-2nd Prize – Flinn O’Hara, Optimization of inward rectifier potassium channel inhibitors to prevent hemipteran feeding. Louisiana State University Oluwatosin Popoola, 3D-printed nanocomposite for smart antimicrobial food packaging. Clarkson University
- 3rd Prize – Rui Chen, Characterization of functional interactions between K+ flux mechanisms that drive insect neural function. Louisiana State University
2021 Poster Competition Winners
- 1st Prize – Na Xie, Resistance to insecticides with different modes of action in Drosophila melanogaster with Rdl mutation in GABAA receptors: More than just cyclodienes and phenylpyrazoles. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Aaron Gross
- 2nd Prize – Morgan Roth, Electroantennography to measure small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) responses to established attractant and repellent molecules. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, Aaron Gross - 3rd Prize – Flinn O’Hara, Toxicity and changes to feeding behavior of Aphis gossypii after exposure to commercial insecticides. Louisiana State University, Daniel Swale
2020 Poster Competition Winners
- 1st Prize – Na Xie, Synergism of fipronil, lindane and dieldrin by the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor agonist pilocarpine in Drosophila melanogaster. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Aaron Gross
- 2nd Prize – Sarah McComic, Reduced susceptibility and neural sensitivity to pyrethroids in the absence of the kdr genotype. Louisiana State University, Daniel Swale
- Co-3rd Prize Winners
- Rui Chen, Enhancing the potency of GABAergic insecticides through chemical and genetic inhibition of K+/Cl cotransporter. Louisiana State University, Daniel Swale
- Felipe Andreazza, Mechanism of transfluthrin repellency in Aedes aegypti. Michigan State University, Ke Dong
2019 Poster Competition Winners
- 1st Prize – Christopher Fellows, Toxicological relevance of potassium ion channels to honeybee immune health, Louisiana State University, Daniel Swale
- 2nd Prize – Shiyao Jiang, Synergistic effects of potassium channel blockers and pyrethroids: mosquitocidal activity and neuronal mode of action. University of Florida, Gainesville, Jeffrey Bloomquist
- 3rd Prize – Rui Chen, Inducing neural failure through chemical inhibition to insect inward rectifier potatssium channels, Louisiana State University, Daniel Swale
2018 Poster Competition Winners
- 1st Prize – Edwin Murenzi,Use of microtransplanted rat brain tissue in Xenopus oocytes to determine the toxicodynamic differences of pyrethroids on sodium channel isoforms in juvenile and adult mammalian brains. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, John Clark.
- 2nd Prize – Shiyao Jiang, High-throughput screening apparatus for evaluating spatial repellency and vapor toxicity of commercially available and candidate repellent compounds. University of Florida, Jeffrey Bloomquist
- 3rd Prize – Mary Grace Guardian, Estrone in aquatic systems in the presence of poultry litter and cow manure: Determination of its fate, degree of mineralization, and changes in its endocrine disrupting potential. University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Diana Aga
2017 Poster Competition Winners
- 1st Prize – Zhilin Li, Characterizing the physiological role and toxicological potential of potassium transport pathways in the tick salivary gland, Louisiana State University, Daniel Swale.
- 2nd Prize – Shiyao Jiang, Synergistic effect of permethrin with potassium channel blockers on Anopheles gambiae,University of Florida, Jeffrey Bloomquist.
- Co 3rd Prize Winners –
- Ping He, Mass spectrometry based detection of vitellogenin peptides as biomarker of fish exposure to estrogenic compounds in aquatic, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Diana Aga.
- Lei Su, Transformation of 2,4-D herbicides in simulated leaf surface systems, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Ning Dai.
2016 Poster Competition Winners
- 1st Prize – Edmund Norris, Exploring the relationship between PaOA1 receptor modulation and the insecticidal character of monoterpenoids. Iowa State University, Joel Coats.
- 2nd Prize – Nita Gabriela Chavez Soria, Mass Spectral identification of biomarkers of exposure to silver nanoparticles in corn roots, University of New York at Buffalo, Diana Aga.
- 3rd Prize – Scott O’Neal, Cardiac regulation of viral infection in a model social insect, Virginia Tech, Troy Anderson.