It is a great pleasure to announce that PhD candidate Jillian Abendroth-McGhee has been awarded two fellowships supporting her dissertation research through 2027: the Gabelman-Shippo Distinguished Graduate Fellowship in
Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics and the Jack & Marion Goetz Graduate Fellowship in Agricultural & Life Sciences.
Jill’s dissertation addresses reliable stand establishment, one of the most persistent bottlenecks in hemp production. Commercial hemp seed lots vary widely in size, dormancy, vigor, and germination behavior, leading to erratic emergence and poor early-season weed competitiveness. While seed morphology and vigor traits are well-characterized and routinely integrated into breeding pipelines in major crops, these relationships remain poorly defined in hemp.
Her research bridges that gap by combining classical breeding populations with modern genomic tools. A nested association mapping population is currently being evaluated for seed morphology and environmental effects on germination and stand establishment. Replicated greenhouse trials are assessing emergence and early vigor across commercial and experimental populations in parallel. The goal is to identify genomic regions associated with strong, uniform emergence and deliver validated markers for use in breeding programs. These tools would directly support the development of more uniform seed lots and improved cultivars.
The Gabelman-Shippo fellowship, awarded to PBPG students whose research has a significant field component, directly reflects the field-grounded nature of this work. The Goetz fellowship, established to support genetics and environmental research at UW’s agricultural research stations, supports the next phase: integrating phenotypic and genomic data to bring these findings to bear on sustainable, organic production systems where consistent stand establishment is especially critical. According to Jill: “It’s an honor to have both the program and the college assess my work and find value in supporting the research and the hemp growing community. Everything our lab does is to support the growers and this support for my work will help us help them!”
Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition!