YOUNG agri-scientist Maddison Taylor Corlett has been named as the Asia-Pacific winner of Alltech’s prestigious Young Scientist program.
Ms Taylor Corlett, who attends Murdoch University in Perth, submitted the research paper ‘Methane yield from sheep fed biserrula’.
She will now present her impressive paper to a panel of international judges and a live audience during ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, from May 22-25. She is competing against three other young scientists from Brazil, Ireland and the US.
Biserrula is a persistent pasture legumes for Mediterranean farming systems. It has high level of hard seed, deep root system and high level of grazing tolerance, according to the WA Department of Agriculture and Food.
The graduate winner for Asia-Pacific was Wenkai Ren who attends Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in China, and submitted a paper entitled ‘Intestinal inflammation and microbiota’.
The four undergraduate and four graduate regional winners will move to the next level in the 11th annual Alltech Young Scientist program, the largest global university contest of its kind that rewards scientific genius and experimental application in agriscience.
Alltech Australia general manager (feed and food) Adam Naylor said students were challenged to submit research studies that demonstrated a keen awareness of science and its applications for improving the future of the world.
“Earlier this year it was announced that 2016’s program would enter new territory by offering fully-funded PhD and post-doctorate positions to the global undergraduate and graduate winners in addition to international recognition, trophies and cash awards, making the contest the most prestigious agriscience competition for university students,” Mr Naylor said.
“In order to participate, students must be nominated by a professor and submit scientific papers on topics such as animal health and nutrition, crop science, agriculture analytical methods, food chain safety and traceability, human health and nutrition, and other agriscience related sectors.”
This year the program received an outstanding 191 nominations from 144 professors representing the world’s top 117 universities from 42 countries.
Finalists from all four regions have been invited to attend an all-expense-paid Alltech Young Scientist Discovery Week in Lexington, Kentucky, where they will compete in the worldwide competition for global titles and fully funded PhD and post-doctorate positions. The winning graduate student will receive a US$10,000 cash prize and the winning undergraduate student will receive a $5000 cash prize.
Call for entry for the 2017 competition will start in September: www.alltech.com/news.
