Please join in congratulating Stephanie Crane on a successful MS in Agriculture thesis defense seminar at Washington State University on November 13, 2024 and a successful thesis defense exam on November 14th. Stephanie’s MS thesis is titled “Seed transmission of Pseudomonas syringae pv. aptata, and efficacy of bactericides for control of the pathogen in beet and Swiss chard seed production.” Lindsey du Toit served as chair of her MS advisory committee, along with committee members David Weller and Lyndon Porter (USDA ARS plant pathologists in Pullman and Prosser, respectively).
Stephanie completed a BS degree in Biology/Anthropology at Western Washington University in 2013. Since then, she has worked for Sakata Seed America in their PNW Plant Pathology lab, and is currently the Assistant Pathologist at Sakata’s Burlington location. Stephanie has worked with a variety of crops and diseases in her time at Sakata, with a focus on bacterial leaf spot in beet and Swiss chard, Phytophthora blight in pumpkin, and Fusarium wilt in spinach. At Sakata, Stephanie has worked under the supervision of Sierra Hartney, a former graduate student of the WSU Department of Plant Pathology, and Sanjaya Gyawali, a former postdoctoral research associate in Lindsey’s program at the WSU Mount Vernon NWREC. Stephanie started her MS in Agriculture Plant Health Management degree at WSU in spring 2020, as a part-time student while working full-time at Sakata.
If you would like to watch the recording of Stephanie Crane’s MS defense seminar on November 13th, the recording can be found at:
Congratulations to Stephanie on an excellent seminar and a thesis project that has generated valuable information on bacterial leaf spot of beet and chard. We look forward to seeing the two research papers to be published soon from her thesis.
