Graduate Research
Agriculture Alexandria Silva As more students without an agricultural background pursue degrees in the field, graduate student Alexandria Silva is assisting the SFA Agriculture Department to determine if their agriculture curriculum requires alterations to better serve students.
need people who care. It doesn’t matter where they come from, what they wear or what they did in the past — it matters that they care for our industry the same way others do so we can cultivate an even stronger environment and create an understanding with the community and agriculturists.” Silva, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from SFA, now serves as an agriculture teacher at Longview High School and plans to continue building a strong National FFA Organization program within the district.
Silva will interview current SFA agriculture students regarding their background, as well as why they chose to pursue an agriculture degree. This qualitative data will then be analyzed for trends and additional insights. “This subject is near and dear to my heart because I am the product of a strong agricultural background,” Silva said. “I can see that we need more people in the industry, and we
Environmental Science Chikaodili Ohakawa Environmental science graduate student Chika Ohakawa’s research will assist the Texas Department of Transportation to move forward with roadway infrastructure expansion in West Texas. Ohakawa said the karst features present in the gypsum plains of West Texas present challenges to structural integrity for engineering activities such as road construction — especially when the expected traffic comprises heavy vehicles associated with energy sector development. “My research involves quantifying gypsum content in soils of the Gypsum Plain within Culberson County,” Ohakawa said. “Gypsum in soils dissolves easily, leaving voids in the subsurface that increase over time and can eventually cause the collapse of structures.” Drawing from her background in geological sciences, Ohakawa will compare three methods of gypsum analysis,
including chemistry analysis, X-ray florescence and gravimetric analysis, along an existing roadway and a proposed TxDOT expansion area. Following her analysis, Ohakawa will construct a geographic information systems map illustrating soil gypsum content along the proposed expansion route and identify areas that warrant further studies. “I have always been fascinated with sinkholes,” Ohakawa said. “This was an interesting subject that provided me with the opportunity to work with my geology background and integrate the new things I am learning about the environmental sciences.”
22| Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture
