April 25, 2016 at 2:32 pm

Plant Biology Grad Student Awarded Graduate College Fellowship

Nicholas Tomeok monitors the health of soybean plants, his research subjects for several studies, as they grow in environmentally controlled chambers.

Nicholas Tomeo monitors the health of soybean plants, his research subjects for several studies, as they grow in environmentally controlled chambers.

By Sydney Dawes
PACE Writer Environmental & Plant Biology

Nicholas Tomeo, a Ph.D. student in Environmental & Plant Biology, was awarded a Graduate College Fellowship for the 2016-17 academic year.

Ohio University awards four named fellowships each year university wide. The Graduate College Fellowship is a stipend and tuition waiver that will allow Tomeo to focus on finishing his dissertation research.

Tomeo is currently researching traits related to photosynthesis.

“There’s potential to use these traits to improve photosynthesis—specifically with crops—with the idea that by making photosynthesis more efficient, we can improve yields, and there’s also some potential for these traits to improve the water-use efficiency of crops,” Tomeo said. “My dissertation is really focused on trying to assess the practicality of whether or not these traits will actually be useful.”

Tomeo begins research for his project, titled “Extent and Drivers of Genotypic Variation in Mesophyll Conductance,” this summer. Being in his fourth year, Tomeo is grateful for the extra time to use for research and publishing his findings. He plans to defend his Ph.D. during spring semester of 2017.