The Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
Bayer Internship Spotlight: Anabel Padilla
Even though she had limited agricultural experience before she started at Fresno State, senior Anabel Padilla will be one of the plant science department's most attractive students to hire next spring thanks to her recent internship with Bayer Crop Science.
The Coursegold native has worked at Bayer's Fresno research station farm during the summer and fall and focused on pathology and nematology issues with research scientist Dr. Paulo Lichtemberg.
During that time, she was one four Fresno State interns who have worked with a host of commodities to better understand how industry develops better methods and solutions to address issues, diseases and pests that farmers face.
Learn more about her in this recent interview.
Q: What types of jobs & tasks did you do?
Padilla: "I worked with the station's plant pathologist and nematologist Dr. Paulo Lichtemberg, and I assisted him with work in both the field and laboratory. In the field, we did a lot of evaluations and grading for galling caused by root-knot nematodes in Dr. Lichtemberg's squash and tomato trials. In the plant pathology lab, I assisted him with different tasks including collecting diseased plant samples and plating those samples onto PDA media to facilitate fungal growth. In the lab, I also learned how to store fungal isolates in cryogenic vials for Dr. Lichtemberg's disease culture collection.
Padilla: "During my internship, I also conducted disease surveys of the different perennial crops at the station, including the peaches, grapes, apples, walnuts, almonds, and pistachios and I did this by collecting leaf and fruit samples from each crop, sterilizing the tissues, and placing the samples in moisture chambers to facilitate saprophytic fungal growth.
Q: What skills did you gain from the internship that they can apply to your potential career options?
Padilla: "I learned a lot during this internship, and it was a very valuable experience. This internship and working with work with Dr. Lichtemberg has taught me how to work as a team and how to effectively communicate with others. It has also taught me how to identify different plant pathogens and plant-parasitic nematodes and the damage they cause, as well as how to properly conduct work in a plant pathology lab, including how to collect, sterilize, and store plant tissue samples. I also learned how to store fungal isolates and how to identify different plant pathogenic fungi."
Padilla: "Unlike most of other plant science students, I actually don't have any background in agriculture before starting at Fresno State. I honestly had no idea what I wanted to study when I first started college."
Padilla: "I chose to major in plant science because I know that there is a lot of agriculture in the Central Valley, so I figured there will be many job opportunities in this area and I also chose plant science because I have always loved science ever since I was little. I think it was a great choice because I have really enjoyed the courses I've taken so far, and I have also really enjoyed my internship with Bayer."