News

The Ohio Soybean Council Foundation (OSCF) is pleased to announce the scholarship recipients for the 2017-2018 academic year.

This is the tenth year for the OSCF Scholarship Program, which was created to encourage undergraduate students to pursue degrees in one of the many academic fields that support the future of the soybean industry including agriculture, business, communication, economics, education, science and technology, as well as to support ongoing graduate-level research. Since 2008, the OSCF scholarship program has awarded $266,000 in scholarship funds to 65 students studying agriculture or a related field at Ohio colleges or universities.

Undergraduate scholarships of $3,000 each were awarded to Christine Balint, Madison Flasco, Cody McClain, Abby Motter, Anna Schmenk and Mikayla Storck. The annual $3,000 Farmer, Lumpe + McClelland (FLM) Scholarship, awarded to students in the field of agriculture communications or business, was awarded to Brianna Gwirtz. The annual $5,000 Bhima Vijayendran Scholarship, named in honor of a Battelle research scientist who has made tremendous contributions to the soybean industry, was awarded to Rachel Krebs. The Robinson W. Joslin scholarship was awarded to Matthew Klopfenstein. New this year, the annual $3,000 scholarship was created to honor a long-time leader in the soybean industry both in Ohio and nationally, who passed away in May of 2016.

Graduate scholarships of $5,000 were awarded to John Craft and Kelsey Scott. Graduate scholarships of $2,500 were awarded to Eric Dean and Sukhmanjot Kaur.

“Congratulations to the 2017-2018 OSCF scholarship recipients,” said Bill Bateson, OSC board member, soybean farmer from Hancock County and scholarship selection committee member.

“We are very pleased with the level of academic achievement the scholarship winners have already achieved in the field of agriculture. There is no doubt that these students will benefit the soybean industry in Ohio.”

 Undergraduate Winners:

Christine Balint of Huron, Ohio is a Junior at the Ohio State University (OSU) studying Agriscience Education.

Madison Flasco of Copley, Ohio is a Junior at Otterbein University studying Biology and Mathematics.

Cody McClain of Nevada, Ohio is a Sophomore at OSU studying Agriscience Education.

Abby Motter of Mansfield, Ohio is a Sophomore at OSU studying Agriscience Education.

Anna Schmenk of Leipsic, Ohio is a Junior at OSU studying Food Science and Technology

Mikayla Storck of New Carlisle, Ohio is a Sophomore at OSU studying Agribusiness and Applied Economics.

Brianna Gwirtz of Shelby, Ohio is a Junior at OSU studying Agricultural Communication

Rachel Krebs of Gahanna, Ohio is a Junior at the University of Dayton studying Chemical Engineering.

Matthew Klopfenstein of Haviland, Ohio is a Sophomore at OSU studying Agricultural Engineering

Graduate Winners:

John Craft of Columbus, Ohio is pursuing his Masters in Agronomy at OSU. His research is to determine the effect on soybean growth, development, and harvest parameters from a foliar nitrogen application of CoRoN 28 Ag during pod development (R3 growth stage).

Kelsey Scott of Wooster, Ohio is pursuing her Masters in Plant Pathology at OSU. Her research focuses on satisfying both the fungicide seed treatment and the genetic resistance aspects of Pythium seed and root rot management.

Eric Dean of Wooster, Ohio is pursuing his Masters in Horticulture and Crop Science at OSU. His research involves optimization of soybean seed development and the potential to shorten seed-specific gene evaluations.

Sukhmanjot Kaur of Akron, Ohio is pursuing her Ph.D in Polymer Science at the University of Akron. She is exploring the use of soybean oil for synthesizing adhesives applicable for wet and humid environments such as underwater construction or adhesives in biomedical sciences.