Meet The Team

Roy is an Assistant Professor at the Tennessee State University's College of Agriculture. Roy grew up in New Delhi, India and completed her doctoral studies at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK. She moved to the Noble Research Institute in Ardmore, Oklahoma in 2016 for her postdoctoral training before starting her independent laboratory in January, 2021.  

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Kyla Hughes is a sophomore currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Sciences at the College of Agriculture. Hughes is a recipient of the prestigious Farmbill Scholarship and a Dean's Scholar. Kyla loves spending time outdoors, hiking and backpacking. She is also an accomplished violinist with a passion for baking desserts! 

Shivani Dharam is a former intern at ICRISAT, India where she worked after completing a B.S degree in Agricultural Sciences at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University. Outside of her studies, Shivani has a passion for dance and music, which she turns to for relaxation. She also enjoys exploring diverse cuisines and discovering new neighborhoods in Nashville.

Miss Aminah Harding Jones is a first year undergraduate student working towards a degree in Agricultural Sciences. She is working with Dr. Rajni Parmar to clone multiple gRNAs to edit Medicago receptors. 

Jain is a graduate student pursuing a PhD at the College of Agriculture. She completed her undergraduate degree in Botany from the University of Delhi. Her research focusses on peptides involved in nitrogen acquisition and root nodulation in the model legume Medicago. When not investigating legumes, Jain can be found researching Pizzerias in and around Nashville and making memes she shares on Twitter.

Rajni recieved her Ph.D from CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, India. After a one year postdoc there, she joined the University of New Brunswick as Post-doctoral Researcher. Rajni has experience in plant genomics, transcriptomics and in analyzing large-scale genomic datasets. In her spare time, Rajni loves trekking and going on long road trips across the Americas with her husband.

Shania Dean-Motley is pursuing her B.S. in Agricultural Sciences as a Dean's Scholar. She was crowned Miss Michigan HBCU Teen and recieved multiple scholarships for her studies at TSU. Passionate about advocating for youth in foster care, multitalented Shania showcases her musical talents as a french horn player with the Grammy-winning TSU marching band, the Aristocrat of Bands! 📯