Mentorship. Collaboration. Adaptability.
Those were the overarching themes to the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics 2025 Hayes Phillips Awards program May 8.
The day’s events began with a panel discussion with APG alumni and Distinguished Alumni Award recipients, Jim Luby and Marc Albertsen.
Luby received his doctorate in Plant Breeding and Genetics here in 1982 and went on to lead the fruit-breeding and genetics program in the University of Minnesota Department of Horticultural Sciences until he retired last year. Albertsen received his doctorate here in 1980. He retired in 2022 as a distinguished laureate and lead at Corteva Agriscience.
As Professor Candy Hirsch moderated the discussion, the panelists were asked what has changed in the agronomy field since they were grad students (funding environment, job market, more women faculty) and what hasn’t changed: Both emphasized the role of mentors—faculty, senior graduate students, and industry partners—in shaping an education and career. Their advice to current grad students: value collaboration and be adaptable.
Mjay Espina, the 2025 Hayes Phillips awardee, brought the theme of mentoring into her own talk at the program. She credited her faculty advisors, Robert Stupar and Aaron Lorenz, for their guidance and support and also credited Ryan Merry, who was in his final year of his PhD when Espina joined the Applied Plant Science graduate program here, and two industry mentors, Sonali Gandhi and Brittney Jones.
Fellow APS graduate students Inés Rebollo and Lucas Roberts were honored as finalists this year.
The Hayes Phillips Award began as the Hayes Award in 1974 and is now named after two distinguished faculty members in the department: H. K. Hayes, a faculty member from 1915 to 1952, and Ron Phillips, a faculty member from 1968 to 2010. Each year, the award is given to an APS graduate student who has excelled in academics, research, teaching, leadership, and service.