Current Students

Adriana Espinosa

Adriana Espinosa I am from Quito-Ecuador, a small but very diversified country in South America, right on the equator. Agriculture is very important to the country's economy. Thanks to it´s geographic position, we can grow the same crops all year long, as there is not much variation in weather or temperature throughout the year. Even though I grew up in Quito, the capital, as a child I spent most of my free time at the farm where I learned to love nature. So, following my dad´s footsteps, I entered Escuela Agricola Panamericana El Zamorano, where I did my undergraduate studies in general agriculture. Zamorano´s slogan learning by doing is something that makes this university very special. Besides having all the theorical agriculture classes, we actually worked in the fields harvesting and processing crops. We also worked with farm animals and in various research labs. While I was at Zamorano, I did an internship at SAKATA Seeds in Salinas, California at the plug and propagation station. Before going to Zamorano I did some internships in Ecuador at La Victoria Roses (a rose plantation), PILVICSA (a vegetable and ornamental nursery) and ECOFROZ (an IQF plant that processes broccoli). After I graduated from Zamorano I worked as manager assistant at the farm where I grew up. I then went to Texas A&M to do an internship at the phytopathology lab, where I worked for four months on developing resistance to Rhyzoctonia solani in several varieties of Begonias. I recently arrived in Gainesville, FL to start my first semester in the DPM program. My career goal is to go back to Latin America and try to help third world countries such as Ecuador develop new technologies and be more efficient. At the same time, I'd like to teach people to conserve the land and to understand that this is a limited resource. We have to take care of it if we are going to continue to grow crops and be competitive in this globalized world. My hobbies include horse back riding and general outdoor extreme sports.