Rounak Patra defended his Ph.D. dissertation centered on how microbial functional traits control subsoil organic carbon dynamics in Tennessee’s hot and humid low-biomass cropping systems. His Ph.D. work was under the direction of Drs. Sindhu Jagadamma and Debasish Saha, while his committee members were Dr. Melissa Cregger and Dr. Jennifer DeBruyn. Starting August 2024, Dr. Patra will begin as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) at the University of Illinois, within the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI). He will work under the direction of Dr. Wendy Yang. Congratulations Dr. Patra!