Posted: January 21, 2026
Penn State Entomology's Student Spotlights highlight the work being done by students. In her spotlight, Anju Poudel, a Ph.D student, talks about her time in the Jared Ali lab researching cover crops.
Anju Poudel
Anju Poudel is a PhD student in the Ali lab. She comes from Nepal, where she received her undergraduate degree at Tribhuvan University. Anju then came to the U.S. to do her master's program at the Tennessee State University, and her PhD in the Jared Ali lab here at Penn State. She comes from a family background of agriculture where her parents used to grow a mix of crops such as tomatoes, corn, rice, and peppers, and most of what they ate came from their own fields. Spending time with them from cultivation to harvest is what first sparked her interest in agriculture
Anju primarily studies the positive impact of cover crops on plants, sucking and piercing insects, how they interact with the soil, and how it converges with human consumption and industrial potential. This research is important to everyone; consumers, farmers, and companies, because cover crops can improve the quality of crops, improving nutrients, taste, and marketability.
Her research concerns the legacy effects of cover crops, plants that manage soil health and nutrient and mineral density during growing off-season. Cover crops can help with a myriad of things, such as reducing the growth of weeds which means that farmers need to use less weed killers, improve water retention in the soil which can help in places with droughts, and inoculate atmospheric nitrogen in the soil which can enhance plant growth.
One of the key findings from her research is that pea plants used as cover crops can incorporate more nitrogen into the soil, which increases the chlorophyll content contained in the plants later grown. This is important because aphids, a small sap sucking insect, feed the tissue of the plant during photosynthesis, which encourages more beneficial insects to live in the area.
Anju is passionate about her work, and she has a deep understanding of it, as it relates to her family and upbringing. Anju is thrilled to continue her research with the Jared Ali lab here at Penn State as she completes her PhD program.
