Benecio Sandoval's research is helping improve food security and protect crops.

As the global demand for safe, sustainable food continues to grow, protecting the crops that feed the world has never been more important. East Texas A&M University student Benecio Sandoval is helping to meet that challenge through a prestigious summer internship with the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI), one of the world’s most respected independent research institutions in plant and molecular science, housed on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

In the position, Sandoval, a senior Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems major from Plano, Texas, is gaining hands-on experience with cutting-edge crop breeding techniques while putting the skills he learned at East Texas A&M into practice.

A prestigious post

BTI was founded more than 100 years ago by mining engineer, financier and philanthropist William Boyce Thompson, who was inspired after visiting Russia and witnessing massive famines caused by crop failures in 1918. When he returned home to the U.S., he founded the institute to explore plant biology with the goal of enhancing global food security and protecting the environment.

East Texas A&M's Sandoval was one of just a few students selected from more than 600 applicants to serve under Dr. Gregory Vogel in his tomato and eggplant breeding lab at the institute, a National Science Foundation-supported program. So far, Sandoval's internship experience has involved assessing methods for screening eggplants for Verticillium Wilt resistance.

Real-world applications

Verticillium Wilt is a disease that affects hundreds of plant types, caused by certain species of Verticillium fungi. In addition to eggplants, many other economically significant plant species can succumb to the disease, including cotton, potatoes and peppers. No chemical fungicide is currently available that reliably combats Verticillium Wilt, which can be devastating to crops.

“This research is important as Verticillium is soilborne, quite destructive, and there is currently no complete resistance in commercial eggplant cultivars,” Sandoval said. “This project aims to improve our understanding and evaluation of this host-pathogen interaction by quantifying fungal biomass accumulation over time.”

Knowledge gained in Commerce

Sandoval transferred from Collin College to East Texas A&M and plans to graduate in December 2026. He first learned about the internship opportunity in January 2026 from Dr. Krishna Bhattarai, assistant professor at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center in Dallas, following his fall 2025 internship with Texas A&M AgriLife Research. After applying to the Boyce Thompson Institute internship, he was selected in March 2026.

Regarding his educational experience at East Texas A&M, Sandoval said that the flexibility of available courses initially guided his decision to attend ETAMU to study sustainable agriculture, but as he continued his studies, he began to delve more deeply into research.

“I became fascinated by the sustainable agriculture research program at East Texas A&M, where Dr. Desire Djidonou investigates urban production systems like hydroponics,” Sandoval said. “My education at ETAMU has helped prepare me for working at BTI by fostering an extracurricular research environment,” Sandoval said.

He added, “This has not just given me practical skills for the field, but insight into agricultural science that has affirmed my path forward.”

As Sandoval’s faculty mentor at East Texas A&M, Djidonou has witnessed his growth as a researcher through a variety of applied research projects.

“At our Crop Physiology and Production Lab, Benecio has been involved in a wide range of applied research experiments,” Djidonou said. “Throughout these research collaborations, Benecio has demonstrated eagerness to learn new skills and tools, excellence and rigor in collecting and summarizing data.”

Dr. Bob Williams, graduate program coordinator and Mayo Professor of agriculture, food and family at East Texas A&M, has also worked closely with Sandoval throughout his education. He added Sandoval is a great example of a student who has maximized their opportunities after transferring from a community college, and that he is poised to succeed after graduation.

Looking ahead

Sandoval’s scholarly efforts have not gone unnoticed. In January of this year, he was awarded first place in the J.B. Edmond Undergraduate Paper competition at the Southern Region of the American Society for Horticultural Science conference for his research on improving germination in seedless watermelon.

As for what's next, graduate school is on the horizon.

“I plan to lead impactful graduate research applying plant breeding and genetics to empower more sustainable food systems throughout Texas and the United States,” he said. “I look forward to applying to Texas A&M University for a Ph.D. in Horticulture, where I intend to focus on plant breeding for controlled environments with Dr. Bhattarai at the A&M Agrilife Research Dallas Center.”

With bright minds like Sandoval leading the charge, East Texas A&M is poised to ensure that food systems are secure for the future.

Learn more about agriculture at East Texas A&M.