Horticulture master’s student Andrej Svyantek collects data from European grapes growing at the Chilton Research and Extension Center.
Andrej Svyantek, a master’s student in Auburn’s Department of Horticulture, has been awarded four scholarships totaling $9,500 in recent weeks to support his research on sustainable production of wine grapes in Alabama and the Southeast.
The scholarships include:
- A $3,500 American Wine Society Educational Foundation Scholarship, funded by the North Alabama AWS chapter and named the North Alabama AWS Chapter Scholarship in Honor of Bonnie and Dennis Dilworth;
- A $4,500 American Society for Enology and Viticulture Scholarship;
- A $1,000 American Society for Enology and Viticulture–Eastern Section Grape and Wine Industry Student Scholarship;
- A $500 Graduate Student Thesis/Dissertation Research Grant from the Auburn University Graduate School Fellowship Committee.
Svyantek is a 2014 crop, soil and environmental sciences graduate with a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and soils. In his graduate research, which he is conducting under the direction of horticulture professor and extension specialist Elina Coneva, he is assessing different varieties of wine grapes for their tolerance of or resistance to Pierce’s disease, a bacterial infection that is deadly to grapevines. Pierce’s disease is the major factor limiting the expansion of the grape and wine industries in Alabama and surrounding states.
Svyantek will graduate with his M.S. in December.
