Jared Ponce joined the HLA Horticulture Crops Weed Science Lab this week as a visiting research scholar. Jared was born and raised in Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras. He earned his B.S. from the Environmental Engineering program at Zamorano University in 2025, also in Honduras. His short-term goal is to grow into agricultural studies and train his mind to think as a researcher. His long-term goal is to find a graduate school opportunity and pursue higher education. He also wants to say, “I’ve been here at Purdue since September last year in Entomology, and research changed my life. I was lucky to be able to make the switch to Horticulture and earned the opportunity to grow into a new topic which truly entices me. If you see me down the hallway or eating in the commons room, be sure to say hello. All my friends agree that I can be quite talkative. Thank you all for welcoming me.”