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FORT PIERCE, Fla. —A revered professor and his esteemed graduate accepted invitations to join Sigma Xi, an elite “international honor society whose members are scientists and engineers.”
Sigma Xi
Lorenzo Rossi, associate professor at the UF/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center (IRREC), along with his Ph.D. candidate, Lukas Hallman, will join the ranks of Sigma Xi, that lists among its members more than 200 Nobel Laureates, including Albert Einstein, Sally Ride, Enrico Fermi, and Jennifer Doudna. Fermi, whose early work with nuclear science led to the world’s first atomic bomb, shares an Italian heritage and the same alma mater with Rossi. Both scientists graduated from Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy’s most prestigious university, founded by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Doudna pioneered the work to edit genes in living organisms, or CRSPR, which is well-known among scientists such as Rossi and Hallman. They anticipate the discovery’s promise to significantly advance food production, crop protection, and the end world hunger.
Dr. Lorenzo Rossi and Lukas Hallman
Lorenzo Rossi with citrus tree roots in a lab at the Indian River Research and Education Center (IRREC). Image: Tyler Jones
“Dr. Rossi and Lukas Hallman deserve fully the invitation and elite status afforded by Sigma Xi,” said Mark Kistler, professor, and director for IRREC. “Both scholars are over-achievers who in their early careers, have advanced plant root biology for Florida citrus growers.”
Kistler said Rossi is a gifted scientific leader who motivates teams to work together to move forward science in plant root biology, which extends to international collaborations. Rossi’s graduate-level student’s repeatedly rate his courses high. In only six years, Rossi reached tenure and promotion, attracted more than $2 million in research grants, and graduated six award-winning Ph.D. and master’s students, all of whom found and maintained employment with prestigious research institutions or are pursuing a Ph.D.
Ph.D. Candidate Lukas Hallman prepares citrus tree wood samples for study in Zürich, Switzerland, Image: Lorenzo Rossi
Rossi said Hallman’s performance as a graduate research assistant continuously exceeds all expectations. Hallman, who completed a Master’s in Horticultural Science under Rossi’s supervision, will graduate with a Ph.D. in Horticultural Science in December this year.
“Lukas Hallman is a natural selection to accompany me to Sigma Xi,” said Rossi. “Lukas is a standout among my students with multiple publications in the most important science journals, his ambition to garner grants and his ability to gain status with place and title awards for the duration of his university academic tenure.”
Title awards for which Hallman is recognized include Sigma Xi membership; Outstanding Graduate Student in Horticulture from the American Society for Horticultural Sciences (ASHS); Graduate Student Best Oral Presentation Award from the Florida State Horticultural Society (FSHS); The UF/IFAS College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean’s Program Award; Graduate Student Assistantship, or full-funding for Hallman’s Ph.D. and master’s studies; a Graduate Student Scholars Award from ASHS; and three travel grants.
Rossi points to Hallman’s ability to write a winning grant proposal to the United States Department of Agriculture for $12,000 to investigate “Deploying oak mulch to contain and suppress HLB in citrus.” “HLB” refers to huanglongbing, the most serious citrus disease worldwide.
Hallman’s achievements feature nine peer-reviewed journal publications in HortTechnology, Frontiers in Soil Science, Journal of Plant Nutrition, Plants, and more. Hallman is listed as the first author of five. He authored seven conference papers; a trade journal publication and 24 presentations made before members of the ASHS and the FSHS, the Florida Citrus Show, and the UF/IFAS Central Florida Citrus Field Day.
Like the Sigma Xi founders who in 1886 initiated the intellectual society, Rossi and Hallman will collaborate in scientific research and as friends who enjoy the camaraderie and privilege to pursue scientific aims to improve crop production at an elite status.
In its original founding documents at Cornell University, the new society leaders wrote, “While those whose heart and soul is in their work, are coping with the great problems of Nature, let them remember that the ties of friendship cannot be investigated, but only felt. Let them join heart and hand, forming a brotherhood in Science and Engineering; thus, promoting and encouraging by those strong, personal attachments of friendship, the highest and the truest advances in the scientific field.”
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