Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl earned her Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Purdue University’s College of Agriculture in December 2025.
BeKa holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, where she discovered her passion for exploring how soil microbes interact with field crops.
While at Purdue, she was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and part of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Indigenous Graduate Program. She is currently an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.
BeKa extends her heartfelt gratitude to the Choctaw Nation Higher Education Program, the Chahta Foundation, and the Growing Hope program for their support throughout her educational journey. Without their support, her dream of becoming a professor.