Two Scholarships are Awarded to College Students for Their Compost Research Projects
06/24/2020 12:29 PM
The CCREF Board of Trustees has announced the winners of this year's Compost Research Scholarships for College Students. Two students were awarded national scholarships. The Foundation received many worthwhile applications but these two stood above the rest. The CCREF annual scholarship is available to college students to assist with their compost research projects. The goal of the scholarship is to encourage more compost-related research projects, a core mission of the Foundation.
Gerard Braun received a scholarship. He attends The Ohio State University in Wooster, Ohio pursing a MS in Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering (FABE) with a focus on biosystems. His project involves the development of a protocol for detection of low-level persistent herbicide (< 10 ppb) in finished compost using plants in a bioassay procedure.
Alex Thomas, the second student to receive a scholarship, is a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point under the Soils and Waste Resources Department. Alex's project is looking at the issue of Chronic Wasting Disease which has been a growing concern in wildlife and waste management. The prion-based disease has spread rapidly over the past decade, infecting cervid populations all over the US. The plan is to investigate whether composting these infected carcasses will yield deactivation of the prion.
The CCREF Scholarship program is funded by generous sponsors each year. Thank you to these businesses and organizations for supporting more compost research and encouraging more young professionals to enter the compost industry: Scotts Miracle-Gro, McGill, North Carolina Composting Council, BioBag, Club Coffee, Filtrexx