GLBRC researcher Brandon Kristy from Michigan State University has won a prestigious Department of Energy fellowship that will allow him to study mutually-beneficial relationships between plants and microbes at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Kristy, a PhD student in the Department of Integrative Biology and a member of the Evans Lab at the Kellogg Biological Station, will go to LLNL to study the "unseen" partners of sustainable bioenergy as part of the Office of Science Graduate Student Research program.

Kristy’s specialty is plant science for sustainable bioenergy, where he investigates how soil microbiomes can help crops like switchgrass thrive without relying on excessive chemical fertilizers.

"Bioenergy crops are a major solution to climate change, but managing them can result in fertilizer waste and runoff," Kristy said. "Amazingly, microbes in the soil can make their own fertilizer. I am interested in exploring how plant-symbiotic fungi can team up with nitrogen-fixing bacteria to provide more nitrogen to these crops naturally."

At LLNL, Kristy will use cutting-edge nanoscale ion mass spectrometry to visualize isotopic signatures inside roots and fungi. This high-resolution imaging will allow him to measure the exact nutrient exchange between plants and their microbial teams.

Kristy’s journey was fueled by the DOE ecosystem. He joined the GLBRC after an undergraduate internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

"DOE programs have been pivotal to my career development and growth as a scientist," Kristy said. “The cutting-edge tools at LLNL will significantly increase the scope and impact of my dissertation.” 

Kristy is one of three MSU students among the current class of 69 scholars from 27 states selected for the SCGSR program, which provides world-class training and access to state-of-the-art facilities at DOE national laboratories. The class includes two scholars from UW–Madison. 

Applications for the next cohort are due by May 6. Click here to apply.