Internships

Alliyah Gregory ’25

Major

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Project Title

Exploring Natural Variation of Seed Oil Content in Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) for Climate-resilient Agriculture

Certificate(s): Environmental Studies, Latin American Studies

I worked with Princeton University’s Conway Lab at the Stony Ford Seed Farm and in the laboratory on various projects related to climate-resilient agriculture. For the okra project, we grew different varieties of okra as a practice for adapting agricultural processes in the face of climate change. Since okra is resilient to climate change, the goal is to examine the oil content of okra seeds as a sustainable cooking oil. For the drought project, we grew corn, sorghum, canola, soybean and oats under drought and well-watered conditions to compare interactions between plant roots and the microbiome under different water conditions. The ultimate goal of this project is to identify bacteria that help the plants survive during drought. At the Seed Farm, my primary duties were tending to the plants (watering, weeding, etc.) and ensuring that everything was in order. In the lab, I aided the postdoctoral researchers in their projects and performed general lab duties. I learned a lot about agriculture and biology in general during this internship, and I hope to combine lab and field work in my future career.