Received from USA - news of this project and crowd-funding effort:
Hello!
My name is Madeline Fowler and I am a student at Virginia Tech. I am contacting you to ask that you please help get the word out about an important poison ivy research project by sharing our social media posts or posting on your site about us. Since your following includes many people who have been affected by poison ivy, this is an important message!
I am currently working with Dr. John Jelesko on The ITCHY Project. Dr. JJ's lab is the only one in the world entirely dedicated to poison ivy/oak research. His goal is to find new environmentally sustainable ways to combat poison ivy in managed landscapes. We are currently raising money to help fund the project through a Virginia Tech crowdfunding campaign.
All donations made are tax-deductible and 92.5% of the funds go directly to research. The funds raised will go to:
1) Additional research into a native fungus that kills poison ivy seedlings.
2) Further develop the ITCHY cell phone app to enable citizen scientists to collect and share poison ivy data with the Jelesko lab.
3) Complete the DNA sequencing of the poison ivy genome (i.e. complete “genetic blueprint”).
Can you please post about our campaign and/or research project on your website and/or social media? It would be very much appreciated!
The link to the crowdfunding website is: crowdfund.vt.edu/TheITCHYProject
The link to our Facebook where posts are available to be reposted is: facebook.com/TheITCHYProject
If you have any questions, please contact me at mf711316@vt.edu or 703-409-1424.
Thanks for your time and help!
