A Mississippi State graduate student has been honored for her work in biology and entomology.

Mary Jane Lytle, a graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology, and Plant Pathology who specializes in row crop entomology, won first place for both her presentation and her poster at the 2023 SERA18: Rice Technical Working Group (RTWG) conference hosted last week in Hot Springs, Ark.

The RTWG is a multistate-research coordinating committee and information exchange group supported by the Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors.

Her presentation, Management of Rice Stink Bug in Mississippi, won first place in the plant protection section of the oral presentations at the conference, and her research poster Value of Diamide Seed Treatments in Upper Midsouth Rice also won first place.

She works in the entomology program at Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville where she is pursuing a doctorate in row crop entomology.

“Mary Jane has a tremendous work ethic and is very comfortable in front of an audience. She is an outstanding representative of the entomology program at DREC and MSU, and we are all very proud of her accomplishments,” Jeff Gore, DREC Head and Extension/research professor, said.

Lytle has a bachelor’s degree in crop sciences and a master’s degree in rice agronomy from the University of Arkansas.

Delta Research and Extension Center was established in 1904, and now the complex encompasses nearly 5,000 acres. DREC seeks to increase the yields of commercial agriculture and aquaculture producers, while at the same time preserving the Mississippi Delta’s environment and natural resources.