Amanda Fleming and Walker Bartz, both graduate students in food science, have been selected to receive national scholarships from the American Society for Enology and Viticulture.

Fleming has been awarded the ASEV James Wolpert Scholarship, which is for $7,500, and Bartz the ASEV Scholarship, which is for $3,500. Fleming was also the recipient of the 2021 ASEV Presidents Award.

The ASEV Board of Directors created the Wolpert Scholarship to memorialize the celebrated extension specialist, who worked at UC Davis for three decades and was an ASEV past president and Merit Award winner. This award goes to one student each year who plans on a career in enology or viticulture extension.

Fleming is a Ph.D. student and Bartz a master's degree student, both in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

Fleming's dissertation is "Investigating Quality Attributes and Wine Production Methods of Arkansas-Grown Grapes."

Bartz's thesis is "Investigating Quality and Consumer Perception for Grape (Vitis) Wine in Alternative Packaging."

Both students work under the supervision of Renee Threlfall, research scientist of enology and viticulture (winemaking and grape growing) in the Department of Food Science. She is a researcher and scientist with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the U of A System Division of Agriculture.

She teaches the Uncorked: Vines to Wines class, and her research focuses on specialty crops with expertise in enology and viticulture, as well as the processing of small fruits (grapes, blackberries, strawberries, peaches, etc.).

The ASEV is dedicated to the interests of enologists, viticulturists and others in the fields of wine and grape research and production throughout the world. Membership includes professionals from wineries, vineyards, academic institutions and organizations.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.