Cultivating Curiosity

Abigail Crawford was a self-proclaimed horse girl as a child with the dream of becoming a veterinarian so she could work with horses every day. Growing up in Kuna, Crawford didn’t have a direct connection to agriculture, so she decided to enroll in agriculture classes in high school to gain experience working with horses and to learn more about veterinary science.

That fateful decision introduced Crawford to her true passion — plant science, specifically weed science — and set her on a course to the University of Idaho. She will earn her degree in crop science and management in December 2024 and start her career in plant science research.

Discovering Plant Science

As a prerequisite for animal science courses at Kuna High School, Crawford was required to take an introductory agriculture class, where she quickly realized that becoming a veterinarian was not the right path. Her teacher, Vandal alum Shawn Dygert (’98, agricultural education), was the plant science teacher and one of his lessons focused on how corn, unlike most other field crops, has separate male and female flowers which aids in pollination. That one lesson was so intriguing to Crawford that she knew she needed to learn more.

Dygert encouraged Crawford to join FFA so she could further explore her interest in plant science and participate in agronomy and landscape competitions. One of the agronomy competitions introduced her to weed science and she knew she had found her passion.

“Plants are just amazing. They thrive in situations where sometimes they’re not supposed to, like when you find dandelions growing in the cracks in the sidewalk,” she said. “Crop science is really cool, but the weeds and how they interact with other plants and their own environment is just fascinating.”

Dygert suggested she look into U of I if she was interested in making a career in plant science.

“The obvious path, if you are from Kuna and you like agriculture, you went to U of I,” she said.

Exploring a Career in Research

During the Idaho FFA Career Development Events in Moscow the summer before her freshman year at U of I, Crawford met Luc Leblanc, curator and manager of the William F. Barr Entomological Museum. She asked about job opportunities related to insects or plants and Leblanc put her in touch with Stephen Cook, professor and head of the Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology. She reached out and was hired as a laboratory technician in Cook’s lab, where she worked for the duration of her time at U of I.

She began by assisting others with their projects where she learned how to pin and catalog insects, how to prepare plants for carbon analysis, how to identify insects and forest plants, and how to chop and dissect trees. Her sophomore year she was asked to step in and finish a project for a departing graduate student looking at biological controls — natural enemies such as arthropods, bacteria or fungi — of spotted knapweed, which she has worked on independently for the past two years.

The project aims to determine if there are suitable controls for the highly invasive weed that severely decreases the biological diversity of native plants and reduces soil fertility. Crawford mapped out where and what type of approved biocontrols were being used in northern Idaho to give relevant agencies an idea of what controls are being used.

“I got to dabble in everything which has been really good for learning what I want to do,” she said. “I’ve been given all the experiences I could imagine in that lab.”

The experiences in Cook’s lab, combined with her coursework, helped Crawford narrow down what she wanted to do with her career. She has accepted a position as a research technician with the wheat breeding program at the U of I Aberdeen Research and Extension Center.

After gaining professional research experience, she plans to pursue a master’s degree with the ultimate goal of gaining a doctorate and a career as a weed science professor.

“I want to make a difference in the field. But making a difference is also just understanding the area and being able to educate on it,” she said. “So, I might not find a new weed or a new biocontrol agent, but I can help the area and make sure we decrease weed populations and help other people understand weed science.”