VSU grad at Montana State University eyes return

Montana State University Assistant Professor and Crop Physiologist Dr. Jessica Torrion considers coming back to the Philippines on a sabbatical leave and be a guest lecturer.

In an interview with PDI, Dr. Torrion, an Agriculture graduate of VSU, then ViSCA, said she still feels pained to come back to the country for good knowing that her parents have passed away already.

“I’m not shutting any doors. But, I’m willing to be on a sabbatical leave and be a guest lecturer,” said Dr. Torrion.

Once an agriculturist at the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Soil and Water Management, Dr. Torrion moved to the US in the hopes of earning a job that could help her pay for her mom’s medication.

It was this responsibility to family, Dr. Torrion said, that pushed her forward in her academic pursuits.

Dr. Torrion, became a research assistant at the Texas Tech University and eventually accepted a post doctorate research associate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There, Dr. Torrion studied crop physiology where she marveled at understanding a plant’s normal growth functions from its soil and nutrient demands to how specific genetics adapts to certain environmental conditions.

From then on, Dr. Torrion started conducting research, writing papers on crop physiology, and sharing her discoveries with farmers and scientists all over the world.

In 2014, she left Nebraska for an assistant professorship at the Northwestern Agriculture Research Center of Montana State University. This transfer was not as hard as it was for her when she first came to the US.

After all, “…the experiences I had, prepared me for something,” said Dr. Torrion. 

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