In a Growth Pattern: Two-Time Aggie William Lashley ’18 Cultivating a Ph.D.

William Lashley came to North Carolina A&T planning to be an engineer. A summer job in the lab of Guochen Yang, Ph.D., horticulture professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design – and the full-ride scholarship that professor offered – changed that plan.

Now, he is the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences’ first enrolled Ph.D. program student, adding a doctorate in sustainable agriculture and environmental sciences to his resume.  

“I come from an engineering background,” said Lashley. “In high school at East Wake, I did take classes in FFA and some agriculture courses, but it wasn’t until my freshman year at N.C. A&T that I began to take an interest in agriculture.”

That was the year he took Yang’s plant tissue culture class. By the time the class was over, Lashley had not only developed a love for agriculture, but found an important and lasting mentor.

“From the very beginning, Dr. Yang saw my potential, and he has a very sharp eye,” said Lashley.

“My relationship with William Lashley – we call him Will – is a very long history,” said Yang, who is also graduate program coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design. “I have a very good assessment of my students overall. Two weeks into my freshman level Introduction to Horticulture class, I saw this young man and saw that he had good potential.”

Yang asked Lashley to meet with him and offered a summer job as a lab assistant.

“I didn’t know why I was being called in,” said Lashley. “I wasn’t the smartest student, but I knew I was a good student. We had our conversation and Dr. Yang offered me a job, to work in his plant tissue culture lab over the summer. He’d seen that not only was I a good worker, but I had the mental capacity to do research.”

Yang’s observations of Lashley’s work ethic and potential would ultimately lead the professor to offer him a scholarship opportunity.

“I became heavily involved and invested in him,” said Yang. “So much that I offered him a full-ride scholarship from my own U.S. Department of Agriculture grant.”

But the deal came with conditions: to receive the scholarship, Lashley said, he had to fully commit to studying horticulture.

“I was still double majoring,” said Lashley. “After long discussions with my family, and a little bit of bribing from Dr. Yang, I accepted the scholarship and became a full-time horticulture major.”

Lashley received his bachelor’s degree in urban and community horticulture in 2018, followed by a master’s degree in natural resources and environmental design in 2021. But the future, from there, was uncertain.

“I was wrapping up my master’s program and couldn’t predict my future. I was looking to apply to different places and different fields,” Lashley said. “Even Dr. Yang was unsure of my future. Fortunately, I finished my master’s at the end of 2021 and the Ph.D. program opened the next spring. It was a smooth transition.”

CAES’ Ph.D. program, a doctoral degree in agricultural and environmental sciences with five concentrations, was announced in 2021 as N.C. A&T’s eleventh doctoral program. Lashley became the program’s first enrolled student, concentrating in sustainable agriculture and environmental sciences.

He was also one of only 49 students named to the 2022-23 Title III Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellowship Program, a prestigious award offered to qualified Ph.D. students enrolled in STEM disciplines in the university. The program provides a full scholarship and funding for equipment or conferences associated with his research.

“The Ph.D. program, within the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, is really history in the making,” said Yang. “It’s the first Ph.D. program in history of the college and of the university within the agricultural area. It’s a channel to educate the future generations of scientists and leaders within the agricultural and food systems channel. That’s right here in our own shop.”

Lashley’s area of focus, as it was during his undergraduate years, is ginger production, a high-value niche crop desired for its culinary and medicinal benefits. He and Yang are studying the ways different environmental factors affect ginger’s growth.

“We’re growing in three different settings: a natural wooded area; in artificial shade with different shade color mulches to see how that affects its growth, yield, and physiological properties; and then, we’re growing multiple generations of tissue-cultured ginger.”

Lashley credits Yang’s guidance and leadership for his growth, from freshman lab assistant to Ph.D. student.

“Without him, I would not be who I am today, where I am today, or the person I aspire to be,” said Lashley. “I’ve been with him for over nine years, and what you see is what you get with him. He’s caring, compassionate, straight-forward. But he’s also showed me tough love. We’d always been through the good, but when it was time for him to step up and be honest, he’s never been afraid.”

Given their strong bond, Lashley’s family has affectionately called Yang his “Greensboro dad.”

“I praise him a lot for the good things he does, and tell him where he needs improvement,” said Yang. “He took it seriously and grew from there. Now he’s transitioned into the Ph.D. program, and I look forward to another four or five years with him.”