January 8, 2024 

Media Contacts:  
Dr. Jeff Bullock, acting dean of math, science, and engineering, 509-682-6624, jbullock@wvc.edu 
Jennifer Korfiatis, interim public information officer, 509-682-6650, jkorfiatis@wvc.edu 

The Wenatchee Valley College Agriculture Department received a four-year grant totaling $268,803 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hispanic-Serving Institution Education Grants Program. The grant was awarded in October 2022 and will continue through 2026. 

According to the USDA, the NIFA HSI Grants Program aligns the efforts of HSIs to support academic development and career attainment of underrepresented groups.  

The WVC Agriculture department will use the funding to provide students with hands-on experiences that prepare them to be competitive professionals in the ag industry.  The funding provides students with authentic, experience-based learning opportunities in the classroom, laboratory, and field. High-performing students can also complete paid internships in the tree fruit industry. 

Last summer, during the first year of the grant, student interns Leisly Hernandez, Melissa Avalos-Ramirez, and Paulina Carreon worked to collect leaf, stem, and bark tissue samples from participating cherry, apple, and grape growers in Wenatchee, Quincy, and Mattawa. Innov8.ag, an agriculture technology company, guided the tissue sample collections and submitted the samples in a blinded format to the agriculture department. RNA samples were extracted from the various tissue samples by WVC students taking classes in the agriculture sciences and were sent to a commercial lab for high-throughput RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), a process in which numerous samples are sequenced simultaneously. WVC students then analyzed the commercially generated RNA sequences by alignment of the RNA-seq data to genetic sequences of pathogens (primarily viruses, bacteria and fungi) known to infect cherries, apples, and grapes. Both students and faculty are blinded as to where the samples were collected from, but results of the pathogen analysis were provided to Innov8.ag to determine if there is a correlation of disease pressure as indicated by the genetic alignment analysis to crop yield. At the conclusion of the four-year grant cycle, tissue sample collection sites and any correlation to crop yield data will be unblinded and provided to WVC faculty for final analysis and results interpretation. 

Students in this project are building their understanding of plant and pathogen genetics and developing their diagnostic and plant management skills. They are also learning how to conduct genetic analysis for pathogen detection and exploring ways genetic analysis is used in plant breeding programs.  

In his grant application, Dr. Jeff Bullock, WVC Agriculture faculty and Acting Dean of Math, Science, and Engineering, explained that the project improves educational equity by providing Hispanic students enrolled in agriculture programs at WVC with instruction in leading edge agricultural science and technology. It also places students in the associate in applied science-transfer degree program, who can transfer into Washington State University programs as juniors, on a level playing field with WSU students who generally have more access to more resources and experiential learning opportunities in agricultural fields of study.  

WVC offers AAS-T degrees in general agriculture, horticulture and tree fruit production, and sustainable and organic agriculture.  

 

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Wenatchee Valley College enriches North Central Washington by serving educational and cultural needs of communities and residents throughout the service area. The college is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion for all students and employees and provides high-quality transfer, liberal arts, professional/technical, basic skills and continuing education for students of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds. Visit our website, wvc.edu. 

Wenatchee Valley College is committed to a policy of equal opportunity in employment and student enrollment. All programs are free from discrimination and harassment against any person because of race, creed, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a service animal by a person with a disability, age, parental status or families with children, marital status, religion, genetic information, honorably discharged veteran or military status or any other prohibited basis per RCW 49.60.030, 040 and other federal and state laws and regulations, or participation in the complaint process. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies and Title IX compliance for both the Wenatchee and Omak campuses: 

To report discrimination or harassment: Title IX Coordinator, Wenatchi Hall 2322M, (509) 682-6445, title9@wvc.edu. 

To request disability accommodations: Director of Student Access, Wenatchi Hall 2133, (509) 682-6854, TTY/TTD: dial 711, sas@wvc.edu.