N.C STATE

Richard J. Bittner of Rhoads Road, Kempton, graduated Dec. 16, 2016, with a Ph.D. in plant pathology from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.

A 2005 graduate of Northwestern Lehigh High School, he majored in biology at Susquehanna University, from which he graduated in 2009.

The results of both his Master of Science and Ph.D. theses were published in four separate segments.

On June 6, 2016, he started his career as a research pathologist for Monsanto at the company’s headquarters in St. Louis, Mo.