Story by Alexander M. Jones
The CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (Lal Carbon Center) is pleased to announce that Sena Mekonnen, World Food Prize Foundation Undergraduate Researcher, received 2nd place in the undergraduate section for Best Poster Presentation Award for her poster titled “Assessment of Soil Physicochemical Properties and Effect on Morphometrics and Nutrient Distribution in Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)” at the 9th Annual Plant Sciences Symposium: The Science of Plant Resilience and Adaptation at the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center on February 13th, 2026. This work was coauthored and supported by Alexander M. Jones, Kyle Sklenka, and Dr. Rattan Lal.
In her LinkedIn post, Sena writes:
My research project focuses on soybean nutrient analysis through a One Health framework, connecting soil degradation and crop nutrient dynamics to bigger outcomes across human health, animal health, and environmental health. What I love about this approach is that it forces you to think beyond a single dataset: nutrient patterns in a crop system aren’t just “agronomy results,” they’re part of a larger chain that influences food quality and nutrition, ecosystem resilience, and ultimately the health of communities that depend on these systems.
Presenting at the symposium was a rewarding challenge as a pre-medical student: turning technical work into a clear story, defending decisions around methods and interpretation, and getting pushed by questions that helped strengthen both the poster and my thinking about next steps in broader systems. I’m grateful for the chance to represent the work coming out of the Lal Carbon Center and to learn from so many strong projects across The Ohio State University plant science community…
Thank you to everyone who supported me, gave feedback, and took time to engage with my poster. This was a meaningful milestone, and I’m excited to keep building on this work.
The Plant Sciences Symposium is an annual convention hosted at The Ohio State University (OSU) centered around topics in plant science. It is a part of the Corteva Plant Sciences Symposia Series. The event also featured a workshop titled “Grant writing and application process” by Madeline Smith, OSU’s Assistant Director for Foundation Engagement, and Cameron Hill, Corporate and Foundation Grants Research Analyst, and a session by Professor and Extension Field Specialist Brian Raison titled “How to hook your audience: Teaching, grant-writing, (or even job-searching)”. Kenote speakers for the event include Dr. David L. Des Marais of MIT presenting “When do genotype by environment interactions matter for ecology and evolution?” and Dr. Virginia Moore of Cornell University presenting “Breeding for sustainable cropping system”. Additionally, Dr. Michelle Jones gave a talk on “Improving nutrient use efficiency and reducing phosphate run off in floriculture crops using plant growth promoting bacteria” and Dr. Francesca Hand presented on “Resilience by Design: Aligning Ornamental Research with Industry Needs”.