Andres Rivas
McNair Scholar 2022
Andres Rivas is a plant, soil and environmental science major in the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences at West Texas A&M University. He is a senior anticipating graduation in Spring 2023. After attaining a bachelor’s degree, Andres intends to continue his education and pursue a master’s degree in horticulture at Texas Tech University. After that, he plans to continue his education and pursue a Ph.D. in horticulture at Texas A&M University.
“One of my personal favorite McNair experiences was gaining research experience and the friendships with my fellow cohort. Understanding the components of research will allow me to utilize these skills in graduate school to further my educational goals. I was discouraged about the potential competition with my fellow cohort, but the group proved to be my best support, and I was able to overcome the obstacles associated with my project." - Andres Rivas
"Determine and compare drought tolerance between different Trifolium species in water limiting conditions in the High Plains Area"
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Craig Bednarz
The project analyzed several varieties of trifolium species in a water-restricting environment to examine tolerance to drought. The preliminary research study addresses several major issues in agriculture that correlate to water scarcity, wind erosion, and soil moisture depletions in the High Plains. The study addresses these issues by providing growers with the knowledge to utilize soil and water resources, use proper management practices to decrease consumption of resources, and improve water/ soil use for agricultural and non-agricultural systems as they relate to matters revolving around viability. The study hypothesizes certain species of legumes tolerate the stresses of water-limiting conditions from that of other varieties. The experiment investigated the link between plant leaf moisture content, plant biomasses, and overall plant health/performance between variety and irrigation treatments. The results suggest that there is no significant difference in variety among clover cultivars. However, overall plant biomasses suggest differences in variety of treatments between alsike and white clover compared to that of the crimson clover which experienced lower levels of plant biomass.