Jul 10, 2011
Lattier, Filios Awarded Syngenta ScholarshipsSource: Syngenta

At OFA Short Course, Jason Lattier, a graduate student at North Carolina State University and Polyxeni (Cheni) Filios, a graduate student at Cornell University, were announced as the winners of the Glenn Goldsmith Breeding Excellence Scholarship and the Goldsmith Seeds Floriculture Business Advancement Scholarship.

At California Spring Trials, Syngenta announced the creation of these new $7,500 scholarships to acknowledge academic achievement in plant breeding and floriculture business. The Glenn Goldsmith Breeding Excellence Scholarship and the Goldsmith Seeds Floriculture Business Advancement Scholarship were created by Syngenta to recognize how today’s students are “Bringing Plant Potential to Life.”

“We were thrilled with the extremely high quality of the submissions we received for our first year for these scholarships,” said Tim Kroenke, Syngenta region head of Lawn & Garden North America. “We were also very excited to see that students in today’s universities have the same passion and commitment to floriculture as we do. Not only do Jason and Cheni’s academic and real-world efforts and dedication to floriculture help ‘Bring Plant Potential to Life,’ they represent the best of floriculture and what lies ahead for our industry,” he continued. “We congratulate Jason and Cheni and we look forward to their continued future success.” The 2011 Glenn Goldsmith Breeding Excellence Scholarship winner is Jason Lattier who is working a on a master’s degree in plant breeding at North Carolina State University.

Jason is a native of Raleigh, N.C., and has a Bachelor of Science degree in horticulture science and a Bachelor of Science degree in botany – both from North Carolina State University.

The winner of the 2011 Goldsmith Seed Floriculture Business Advancement Scholarship is Cheni Filios, a master’s degree candidate in ornamental horticulture at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

Cheni’s graduate studies are focusing on the potential harmful effects that can occur in floriculture crops when passing from the producer to the consumer as well as post-harvest degradation that occurs throughout the floriculture chain.

To apply for either scholarship, students were required to have a GPA of 3.0 or higher and they must have been enrolled in an accredited four-year university during the 2011-2012 academic year. They were also required to pursue an undergraduate or advanced degree.

Additionally, students were required to write an essay of 1,000 words or more describing how the Syngenta mission of “Bringing Plant Potential to Life” was relevant to their career path. Each submission was judged by a panel comprised of a Goldsmith family member, a Syngenta Flowers plant breeder, a Syngenta Flowers business representative, an editor from GPN magazine, and several additional industry representatives.

Syngenta will be announcing plans for the 2012 Bringing Plant Potential to Life Scholarship program after the first of the year. Stay tuned to GPN Weekly for additional information.