News

GSSM Alumni Publish Research Articles as First Authors

February 5, 2021

GSSM alums Melina Madden ('19) and Sydney Lykins ('17) have recently published research articles as first authors.

Madden's article, Weeds Impose Unique Outcomes for Pests, Natural Enemies, and Yield in Two Vegetable Crops, is based on work she continued to do with her SPRI mentor, Dr. Carmen Blubaugh. From their abstract: "Our results suggest that highly competitive crops might benefit from stronger natural pest control when weeds are less-aggressively managed" (Madden, Widick, Blubaugh, 2021).

Lykins's article, Photosynthetic Light Response of Floricane Leaves of Erect Blackberry Cultivars from Fruit Development into the Postharvest Period, was done with Clemson researcher Dr. Juan Carlos Melgar. From their abstract: "We hypothesized that the plant photosynthetic response to light is cultivar specific and may also change with the stages of fruit development. Therefore, the objective of this work was to determine the photosynthetic capacity of four common commercial erect blackberries by comparing their responses to increasing irradiance" (Lykins, Scammon, Lawrence, Melgar, 2021).

This is a significant accomplishment in the GSSM research community.