Student Spotlight: Shelly Pate
Q&A with Shelly Pate Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? My name is Shelly Pate. August 2022 marked the beginning of my 3rd year as a Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee. My advisor is Dr. Heather Kelly, and she is stationed at the West Tennessee Research and Education Center in Jackson, TN. I spend most of my time on main campus in Knoxville. However, I travel to Jackson to set up/harvest my field research trials as needed. My project involves working with nematodes and soybeans in two different capacities. More specifically, I am investigating any potential relationships between economically important nematodes (soybean cyst, southern root-knot, reniform) and an emerging soil-borne fungal pathogen (Xylaria necrophora).