Dr. Naidu Rayapati, Prosser Irrigated Agriculture Research & Extension Center
Dr. Rayapati is the Director of WSU’s Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center (IAREC) located in Prosser, WA, in the Yakima Valley area of south-central Washington, and ~35 miles east of Richland. IAREC has 16 WSU faculty and about 30 graduate students pursuing groundbreaking discoveries and deploying forward-looking, climate-smart and precision agricultural strategies for sustainable crop production in irrigated agriculture.
A Teacher Partner could choose from a range of research project areas to join, including molecular biology, food safety, precision agriculture technologies (e.g., drones and robotics), molecular breeding, plant pathology and entomology. Dr. Rayapati would work with the Partner to identify which research lab and project would be the best fit.
No matter the project area, the Partner will participate in and contribute to the advancement of research and gain hands-on experiences in a field of interest. Conducting independent research in a cross-disciplinary, team-based contemporary research environment could enrich your scientific literacy and sharpen critical skills!