Student Highlights: Drea Hineman
— MEET DREA —
Class: Senior
Major: Plant Production and Protection
Drea Hineman is a Wyoming native, raised in Douglas, Wyoming. She later moved to Gillette, where she played hockey for both the Gillette Lady Grizzlies and Team Wyoming. Drea is an avid concert goer and Colorado Avalanche fan, and enjoys spending time with her many siblings and friends. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Plant Production and Protection at UW, with a concentration in horticulture.
For most of her college career, Drea has worked at the UW Laramie Research and Extension Greenhouses. One of her main roles is to help researchers with data collection, experiment design, and system setup with the aim to utilize innovative horticultural technology to solve crop production challenges in controlled environment.
— DREA’S RESEARCH —
Drea’s undergraduate research focuses on nutrient management and salinity stress, two critical challenges for sustaining fresh vegetable production under space-relevant farming conditions. On the International Space Station, plant roots grow in “plant pillows” filled with substrates and slow-release fertilizer. While these fertilizers supply essential nutrients, the limited drainage under microgravity leads to salt accumulation within the pillows, creating salinity stress.
To investigate this challenge, Drea will be employing a sensor-based irrigation system on Earth to regulate water content under non-saturated conditions, thereby simulating the restricted drainage of microgravity. Her research aims to evaluate the interactions among fertilizer rates, biostimulants, and crop salt tolerance, with the goal of developing optimal nutrient management strategies to support long-duration space exploration missions. Specifically, her work will address key questions such as: (1) to what extent do differences in cultivar salinity tolerance affect the productivity of lettuce grown under two fertilizer rates using a cut-and-come-again harvesting method, and (2) how might biostimulants mitigate salinity stress while enhancing lettuce productivity under the same cultivation system in controlled environment conditions.
ABOUT STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Every year, we award fellowships to graduate and undergraduate students attending the University of Wyoming or Wyoming’s community colleges in order to provide them with funding to engage in real-world research opportunities. Occasionally, we feature one of these students and their research on this blog. For more information about our student fellowships, visit our College Programs page.