By Audra Koscik
This April, Gopika Gopinathan and Francisco (Fran) Campos-Arguedas, graduate students in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences, received awards from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS). Gopinathan, a PhD candidate in the Dawson Lab, received a Graduate Service and Outreach Award. Campos-Arguedas, a doctoral student advised by Al Kovaleski, received a Graduate Mentoring Award. Gopinathan and Campos-Arguedas were selected due to their extensive contributions to their academic and scientific communities.
Gopinathan specializes in small grains and breeding favorable qualities in barley such as disease resistance and higher yield. Her research also focuses on accelerated crop development. She shares this research at field days and at various presentations across the nation such as the Culinary Breeding Network’s Grain Variety showcases. Due to her merits, Green Lands Blue Waters selected her for their 2025 cohort in the Equipping Next Generation Ag Leaders program. This initiative strives to transform agriculture, including increasing inclusivity, building partnerships, and co-creating conditions for social and environmental change.
Gopinathan also supports local community by representing the graduate students as a voting member in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences governance meetings and by serving on the department’s Colloquium and Lectures Committee. She has shared her expertise in her teaching practicum for the course Plant Breeding and Biotechnology and through mentoring undergraduate students in the barley research program.
As a horticulture doctoral student, Campos-Arguedas researches how climate change is affecting plant responses to winter, specifically cold hardiness and dormancy. When Campos-Arguedas began his doctoral studies, he became an administrative member of Mentorship Opportunities in Science and Agriculture for Individuals of Color (MOSAIC). This organization at UW-Madison fosters a supportive community for BIPOC undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdocs by connecting them with enthusiastic mentors who understand and share their experiences. In addition to their mentorship program, MOSAIC routinely hosts events open to all students on campus that build community and offer professional development experiences. As a member of MOSAIC’s administrative team, Campos Arguedas helped organize many of these initiatives and supported MOSAIC through activities such as grant writing.
In 2023 and 2024, Campos-Arguedas worked as a Graduate Program Assistant for the UW Tropical Horticulture Study Abroad Program. In this role, he supported students while traveling Costa Rica. Currently, Campos-Arguedas supports students in his role as a Posse mentor. The Posse program identifies high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential and awards them four-year, full-tuition scholarships to partnering universities. Through this program, Campos-Arguedas mentors Posse students moving from Los Angeles to UW-Madison to begin their college career.
Gopinathan and Campos-Arguedas received their awards April 8 at the CALS Student Awards Ceremony. These awards help recognize the extraordinary work Gopinathan and Campos-Arguedas have done in mentorship and outreach.