Linah Alkotami – Ruth is an exceptional scientist whose contributions have significantly advanced the plant lipid community. She is also an amazing mentor who has had a profound impact on both my professional and personal life. Her insights and feedback on my research, along with her willingness to assist and teach me various skills despite her busy schedule, have been instrumental in my academic growth. I see her as a role model and I consistently turn to her for guidance and answers. Despite not being a member of Ruth’s lab, I always felt welcomed and included in both her lab and home, which was particularly meaningful to me as someone coming from a different country. Ruth’s generosity, encouragement, and openness created an environment where I could thrive and genuinely feel like I belonged. I am and will always be grateful for her guidance and friendship.

Philip Bates – Ruth has always been a great scientist and a supportive and encouraging collaborator. Ruth has been a key figure bringing the plant lipid community together through organizing meetings and developing resources. She is someone with whom I always look forward to interacting and collaborating.

Giorgis Isaac – Prof. Ruth Welti is one of the kindest, most generous and creative scientists I have worked with. She is always happy to share her ideas and knowledge to advance science. Her contributions to plant lipidomics are greatly appreciated by the scientific community, and I thank her for introducing me to plant biochemistry. I thank her also for providing me the opportunity to proceed with my postdoc in her lab, the Kansas Lipidomics Research Center, and advance my scientific career in the United States.

Aruna Kilaru – Ruth, you introduced me to the field of lipidomics and continue to inspire me with your work. Thank you for being such a wonderful mentor, friend, colleague and collaborator and for constantly supporting my career growth. Congratulations on this well deserved recognition!

Maoyin Li – As my doctoral mentor, Ruth Welti, was great. She pointed me toward exciting but challenging projects, and she was always encouraging and gave thoughtful advice. Ruth Welti has made significant contributions to science and much more. I was always very proud of our pioneering publications, for example one in JBC in 2002 using mass spectrometry for studying signaling pathways; it has 1,093 citations thus far. I learned a lot from Ruth that I utilize in my career in biochemistry, lipidomics, proteomics, and drug development. She taught me the value of good science, and her kindness always makes me feel appreciative and optimistic.

Yibo Liu – Dr. Welti is my academic advisor, and she has guided me in my academic success. I worked in her lab as an undergraduate. During my time there, not only did I increase my scientific knowledge, but I also learned the importance of cooperation and collaboration in research. I believe her research training was invaluable for helping me to fully understand the efforts and investigations at all levels of the field, from the laboratory benchtop to care of human patients. I really appreciate Dr. Welti’s help in my life, and I believe she is worthy of this recognition.

Hannah Lusk – Dr. Ruth Welti is an incredible scientist, teacher, and mentor. I met Dr. Welti my first semester of undergraduate study at Kansas State University (KSU); she was one of the instructors of my Principles of Biology class, the first biology course I had ever taken. It was in this class that I first realized my passion and aptitude for science! When the thought of changing my major from nutrition to biochemistry first arose, I immediately turned to Dr. Welti for advice. Dr. Welti not only encouraged me to change my major, but she also offered me an undergraduate research position in her lab so I could start gaining research experience as an undergraduate! After two years working in the lab, Dr. Welti supported my application for the Biochemistry BS/MS program, a concurrent program that gave me the opportunity to earn a Master’s degree based on the research I was doing as an undergraduate. Under the mentorship of Dr. Welti I received several undergraduate research awards, earned a graduate certificate in applied statistics, and gave numerous presentations, including an oral presentation at a Gordon Research Conference on plant lipids. By the end of my fourth year at KSU, I had successfully identified a novel allelic mutation in the Arabidopsis gene FATTY ACID DESATURASE6 (FAD6) and heterologously expressed the Arabidopsis FAD6 gene in yeast. This work comprised my Master’s thesis and ultimately led to co-first authorship on a publication that was recently published and highlighted in Plant and Cell Physiology. My experience in the Welti lab solidified my desire to pursue a career in scientific research and provided me with invaluable mentorship and laboratory experience. I am currently a fourth-year PhD candidate in Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California Santa Cruz. Without the incredible mentorship of Dr. Welti I would not be where I am today. She truly changed my life!

Sruthi Narayanan – Dr. Welti co-advised me during my Ph.D. program. My specialization was Crop Physiology, and it was through Dr. Welti’s guidance I realized a new direction that my Ph.D. research could take. She introduced me to the world of lipidomics and how we can utilize the knowledge of lipid metabolism for crop improvement. My relationship with Dr. Welti continued even after my Ph.D. program. Currently, I am an Associate Professor of Crop Ecophysiology at Clemson University, and Dr. Welti is a collaborator on my multiple projects. Dr. Welti is a researcher who helped me find my niche in the scientific world.

Prasad Parchuri – Ruth is one of the best scientists and great humanbeings I have ever met in my life. It is difficult for me to describe the impact Ruth hadon my career advancement, but I can proudly say where I am today is because of Ruth’s mentorship and support. I was in Ruth’s lab during 2018-2019 as Fulbright visiting scholar from India. During that time I not only learned lipidomics from her, but also how to be a good, kind human being. She introduced me to the plant lipid world, which made a strong impact on my career. She is an inspiration and role model, someone I want to be in my future- helping, supporting and providing outstanding mentorship to students. Congratulations Ruth for your recognition as Pioneer of ASPB. Your contributions to the field of plant lipidomics have helped pave the way to understanding plant lipids.

Shivakumar Pattada – Professor Ruth Welti is an amazing human being and an excellent teacher, mentor, researcher and friend. Thank you, Ruth!

Rebecca L Roston – Ruth is always friendly and tries to help her younger colleagues. She has revolutionized the quality of plant lipidomics research, and this has led to meaningful increases in data quality in our shared field.

Thilani Samarakoon – I am honored to support Dr. Ruth Welti’s recogntion as a Pioneer of ASPB. I had the pleasure of working as a postdoctoral researcher under her guidance. She is an expert in the development of mass spectrometry-based lipid profiling technology. She devotes her time to optimizing this technology and constantly researching ways to improve it. Dr. Welti is the founder and director of the Kansas Lipidomic Research Center. She has assisted many research groups through the services offered by this center. She is a dedicated researcher and a wonderful human being. I wish her all the best with her research endeavors.

Jyoti Shah – Dr. Welti has been an excellent mentor to undergraduate and graduate students, junior scientists and faculty. She has also been an excellent collaborator who pioneered the development of the lipidomics platform, in particular that for plant lipids, making it available to the international scientific community. The lipidomics technology developed by her and the lipidomics facility that she manages at Kansas State University has been utilized by hundreds of researchers across the globe.

Zolian Sang Zoong Lwe – Ruth was a wonderful mentor for me even before I became a PhD student in her lab. During my Master’s thesis, the lab I worked in collaborated with Ruth. She was always generous with her time and patiently answered questions while I completed my manuscripts. I still vividly remember a trip to Kansas in 2018, when I spent a couple weeks in her lab processing my lipid samples for profiling. Those two weeks were special. Now as her PhD student I am blessed to have her as my mentor. The independence and freedom I have from Ruth allow me to cultivate my identity as an independent investigator, and I know this will serve me well in the future. By orking with Ruth, I feel confident I can achieve my goals as a scientist.