Ms. Jing Dai earned her BS degree in Agronomy from China Agricultural University in 2004. Jing then moved to the Pennsylvania State University to characterize the salinity tolerance of annual bluegrass and earned her MS degree in Agronomy (under the direction of Dr. David R. Huff) in 2006. Currently, Jing is a Ph.D. candidate in Agronomy (under the direction of Dr. A. J. Turgeon) at Penn State, working on improving creeping bentgrass nitrogen fertility regimes for optimized turfgrass quality and reduced environmental impact. Specifically, her dissertation is focused on the integration of iron and trinexapac-ethyl into nitrogen fertility programs for regulation of water and fertilizer requirements by intensively managed Penn A-series creeping bentgrass putting greens.

Jing enjoys teaching very much as a graduate teaching assistant. She has assisted in the instruction of four courses and five lab sections in the past four years and received the NACTA graduate student teaching award in 2008. She is also interested in agricultural statistics and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. minor in statistics. Under the direction of Dr. James L. Rosenberger, she presented a departmental seminar on incomplete blocks in 2008 and has implemented numerous advanced experimental designs and data analytical methods in her research. Ms. Jing Dai expects to complete her Ph.D. program in May 2010.