Ellie Kreider ’25, a biology major at The College of New Jersey, has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Open Research Award from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to conduct research in Germany for the 2025–2026 academic year.
Her work is entitled “Untangling the role of calcium channel proteins in the cold stress response of plants,” and will be a 10-month project conducted at The Leibniz Institute for Ornamental and Vegetable Crops with Dr. Philip Wigge.
The work aims to understand the initial cold stress response of plants, which involves two calcium spikes. The first spike occurs within seconds of stress, and the second occurs after several minutes. These two calcium spikes trigger many downstream changes in the plant to help it survive, however, the cause of these spikes is practically unknown.
“I am really excited to work on such a fundamentally important gap in our knowledge, at an agriculturally-based German institute, with one of their leading plant scientists,” Kreider said. “I wanted to be able to cultivate global perspectives in my work and this will allow me that opportunity.”
Kreider, who is pursuing a career in plant biology, will study two calcium channel proteins to determine if they are involved in sensing cold. She will achieve this by comparing the movement of calcium in plants with and without those proteins, as well as during exposure to a chemical that mimics cold.
Kreider credits TCNJ biology professor Leeann Thornton for inspiring her work and pursuance of a Fulbright.
“Dr. Thornton has really prepared me for this work, I’ve fallen in love with this type of research through her tutelage,” Kreider said.
Kreider also acknowledges the support she received from TCNJ’s Educational Opportunity Fund during her time at the college.
“I love the EOF program, they do such great work,” she said. “They were behind me every step of the way during my journey and I could not be more appreciative for all they did for me. It’s a very special group of people.”
Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, and scholars with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad.
One of the goals of the program is to have students immerse themselves in the culture of the country in which they are studying and engage in community service initiatives.
“I am really excited about that aspect of this program,” she said. “I plan to work in community gardens in Berlin, which is where I will be living for my time in Germany.”
Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which has operated in over 160 countries worldwide. Fulbrighters go on to win Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, become MacArthur Fellows, or be leaders in state or national government. In the United States, the Institute of International Education implements the Fulbright U.S. Student and U.S. Scholar Programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit https://fulbrightprogram.org.
— Luke Sacks