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Agribusiness student appointed as student trustee to TSU Board of Trustees for one year
By EMMANUEL FREEMAN
Shaun Wimberly, Jr., a junior agribusiness major, has been appointed the new student trustee on the Tennessee State University Board of Trustees. Wimberly’s appointment was announced during the Board’s June meeting. He was selected by President Glenda Glover to serve a one-year term, as a nonvoting member of the Board.
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“Congratulations Shaun on your appointment to the TSU Board of Trustees,” President Glover said. “The student trustee plays a critical role at this university. As a student here over the years, you have demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities. I have no doubt that your contribution to the Board will make a positive difference for your fellow students.”
Dr. Deborah Cole, chair of the Board, welcomed the new student Trustee. “We are pleased to welcome you Mr. Wimberly to the Tennessee State University Board of Trustees,” she said. “The Board looks forward to your service and working with you on the board and on board committee matters.”
“I am excited for my new appointment to the Board of Trustees for the academic school year,” said Wimberly. “I am delighted to be working alongside such a distinguished team and I believe that there are great things to come. I look forward to learning and working diligently throughout my tenure, to serve my university and the student body well.”
A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Wimberly has a 3.7 grade point average. He is a Brand Ambassador of the Men’s Initiative. He has won many honors and awards, including the National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists Award of Excellence. As a member of the FedEx-HBCU Student Ambassador program, Wimberly joined President Glover and FedEx executives on Feb. 1 to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
Kenneth Rolle, II, president of the Student Government Association, described Wimberly as the “epitome of a student leader.”
“His drive and ambition have spoken well for him since his freshman year. I have watched him grow on campus and I am excited to watch him serve as the first male student trustee,” said Rolle. “He and I will work closely together as we continue to advocate and improve the experience for students here at Tennessee State University. I look forward to seeing him at work.” Wimberly was selected from among three candidates submitted
to President Glover by the SGA.
Frank Stevenson, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students, noted that Wimberly has been a model student on our campus and has exhibited high leadership qualities.
“He comes with a great amount of experience,” said Stevenson. “Seeing his commitment to student engagement and to making sure that student concerns are heard at the level of the trustees is important. He is a good fit.”
Wimberly succeeds Tiara Thomas on the Board of Trustees. A top political science major, Thomas served two one-year terms on the board. She graduated last May and is pursuing her master’s degree at TSU.
Shaun Wimberly, Jr. Student Trustee
Dr. Sonali Roy stands before her alfalfa plants in the green house where she conducts research on legumes. Photo by Joan Kite
New asst. professor bears golden touch
By JOAN KITE
Dr. Sonali Roy, assistant professor, has yet to reach her two-year anniversary at the College of Agriculture and she has already corralled $1.4 million in funding for her laboratory.
Dr. Roy is a young scientist, passionate about her research using a targeted genetic approach to discover supplements for plants (specifically legumes) that will enable them to absorb nitrogen more efficiently with help from soil bacteria. Currently, plants only absorb 50 percent of the fertilizer they are given. The remaining wasted fertilizer then runs off into groundwater contaminating water supplies.
“That causes algal blooms which in turn kills fish, and birds, and other wildlife” Dr. Roy said.
Her research focuses on Medicago truncatula, a plant related to alfalfa that is used as forage in some countries.
Dr. Roy has received funding for two separate research projects related to legumes. She received $499,216 for her “USDA-NIFA Crispr-Cas9 To Study Peptide Induced Histone Modifications In Legumes.” Her Co-PIs are Dr. Suping Zhou and Dr. Ali Taheri. She also received $497,100 for a Building Research Capacity Grant of New Faculty in Biology from the National Science Foundation for “MedicaCARGO-Decoding peptide perception during MedicagoSinorhizobium symbiosis using CRISPRcas9 As a Reverse Genetics tool.” Her Co-PI on that project is Dr. Walter Chazin of Vanderbilt University.
The third project is a National Science Foundation HBCU-Undergraduate Program grant of $400,000 for teaching. Together with Dr. Ali Taheri and Dr. Suping Zhou and three external collaborators, Dr. Roy will be responsible for developing a course with “hands-on” components to make key concepts of gene editing in agriculture and plant science accessible to undergraduate students within the college,” she said.
Together, the projects will “fund research experiences for 15 undergraduates, an M.S. student, a doctoral student, and a postdoc,” said Dr. Roy.
Dr. Roy earned her Bachelor of Science in Botany from the University of Delhi in India where she graduated with First Class Honors. She earned her Ph.D. in Legume Molecular Genetics at John Innes Centre in Norwich.
She also received the American Society of Plant Biologists 2022 Women’s Young Investigator Travel Award to attend the Society meeting in Portland, Oregon and a large equipment donation to setup her lab at TSU, from her alma mater the Noble research Institute in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
