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Hartsville, S.C. (May 14, 2010) -- Coker College biology students Cynallyhia Indriago of Columbia, S.C., and Bryan Musungu of Fayetteville, N.C., have each been awarded a $9,000 summer research fellowship funded by the National Science Foundation. They will spend eight weeks at Purdue University in Indiana studying genes important in plant-fungal interactions.

The work Indriago and Musungu will conduct at Purdue is directly related to the research they are doing at Coker College with Dr. Joseph Flaherty, assistant professor of biology. Flaherty has been awarded a five-year, $502,000 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a student-centered research program concentrating on gene discovery in fungi.

The focus of Flaherty’s research is Fusarium head blight, which is caused by the fungal plant pathogen Fusarium graminearum. A worldwide threat to cereal crops, Fusarium head blight has caused more than $3 billion of crop loss in the United States over the past decade.

Indriago is a junior and a member of the Lady Cobras volleyball team. Musungu is a senior and a plays on the Cobras men’s soccer team.

Founded in 1908, Coker College is an independent, comprehensive college with a liberal arts core required of all students. Coker provides quality educational experiences in and out of the classroom that prepare graduates for professional and personal success. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks Coker one of America’s Best Colleges. The Princeton Review rates Coker a Best Southeastern College based on academic reputation and student satisfaction.

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