For Ph.D. marshal Haley Oliver, completing her food science and technology doctoral degree has been the least of her challenges in the past year.

Last June, while doing a research internship at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Oliver -- the first in her family to attend college -- learned from her 15-year-old sister that their single-parent father had been killed on his motorcycle, a Father's Day gift that he had just received. He left no will, a $500,000 debt and the 320-acre family farm in Lingle, Wyo., that had been planted days before with pinto beans and corn.

Oliver, 27, spent the next three weeks home with her three younger siblings, tending the crops and installing an elaborate irrigation system.

"Growing up, we always helped my dad with the farm during the summers," said Oliver, one of two Ph.D. marshals who will represent the graduating doctoral students at commencement. "Irrigation was something we'd never done before on our own. It's incredibly complex -- we can make water run uphill."

Meanwhile, Oliver began untangling the legal thickets of her father's estate. She and her siblings decided to lose their house to foreclosure to protect the farm's remaining assets.

"It was very difficult to address all the legal concerns while also trying to deal with the emotional trauma of being on the farm without our father," she said.

Oliver's brother quit his job to look after the farm for the summer, while she returned to Cornell to resume her research. (In the fall, she and her siblings met again in Wyoming to harvest the crops.)

"She came back to Cornell after a few weeks, and threw herself into some of the most sophisticated research to come out of my lab to date," said Professor Kathryn Boor, director of the Food Safety Laboratory. Oliver used Listeria monocytogenes as a model to generate "instant information" about what genes a bacterium deploys to survive stress. The technology could save lives and money by enabling scientists to rapidly pinpoint targets for detecting novel and emerging pathogens that trigger outbreaks of foodborne illness.

At her lab bench in Stocking Hall, Oliver would alternate between preparing samples and consulting with attorneys on her cell phone. In March, Oliver faced "the worst day ever" when she and her siblings sold the farm, which had been in their family for 84 years, to pay off debts. "The legacy died that day," she said.

"All of this while keeping her research going strong," said Boor. "She has been able to maintain a remarkably positive, 'can-do' attitude about everything that has been thrown at her. I think there are no limits for someone like Haley."

On May 15, her father's birthday, Oliver defended her thesis. She hopes to land a two-year fellowship at the FDA and then pursue a career combining governmental, industrial and academic facets of food safety.

"Facing these challenges pushed me even harder to work on my degree," said Oliver. "The last year has made me a better scientist by forcing me to balance outside responsibilities with my work in the lab."

Her three siblings and her mother, who lives in Arizona, are joining her in Ithaca to celebrate the conferring of her degree.

Ted Boscia is a staff writer for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.