July 5, 2023
Entomology graduate student awarded USDA-NIFA predoctoral fellowship
Submitted by Jacqueline M. Maille, Erin D. Scully, Rob Morrison and Kun Yan Zhu
Jacqueline Maille, a doctoral candidate in entomology, was awarded a prestigious predoctoral fellowship of $179,395 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or USDA-NIFA. The fellowship supports her doctoral dissertation research, which covers her three-year stipends, tuition, research supplies and travel for attending scientific conferences.
USDA-NIFA is a federal funding agency that supports food and agricultural research through various programs. Maille's fellowship was funded through the USDA-NIFA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative — Education and Workforce Development program, which focuses on developing the next generation of research, education, and extension professionals and leaders in the food and agricultural sciences.
As crop yields become more variable in response to global climate change, it is imperative to prioritize the protection of commodities after harvest from stored product insect damage to preserve food security. A multidisciplinary approach can improve pheromone-mediated, behaviorally-based management practices to uncover the underlying molecular mechanisms of behavior, including how mates are detected and how food is found.
Maille will use the fellowship to study the chemosensory genes and their functional behavior in the Indian meal moth, one of the most destructive cosmopolitan stored product insects. She plans to generate a high-quality chemosensory gene annotation from a fully sequenced Indian meal moth genome, and she will also identify genes responsible for perceiving volatiles used to locate mates or food sources. Functional genomics approaches will be used to uncover the role that chemosensory genes have on attraction and behavior. The project will provide a high-quality annotated chemosensory genome resource and lay the foundational genetic understanding for the Indian meal moth to locate suitable mates and food sources. This will allow the researchers to alter current tactics or develop new pest management tactics to prevent Indian meal moths from establishing infestations.
Maille received her bachelor's degree in biology from Austin Peay State University in 2015 and her master's degree in entomology from Kansas State University in 2019. She started her doctoral program in entomology at K-State in 2020. She has published six peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals and presented 21 talks at national and international conferences. She has also served on many committees and professional organizations and engaged in numerous outreach activities. She has received many awards and scholarships, including the Don C. Warren Genetics Scholarship from K-State's College of Agriculture.
Maille is mentored by Kun Yan Zhu, university distinguished professor of entomology; Erin Scully, adjunct professor of entomology and research leader and research molecular biologist at the USDA Agriculture Research Service Stored Product Insect and Engineering Research Unit in Manhattan; Rob Morrison, adjunct professor of entomology and research entomologist at the USDA Agriculture Research Service, Manhattan; Yoonseong Park, professor of entomology; and Michael Kanost, university distinguished professor of biochemistry.