{"id":40970,"date":"2026-01-26T11:20:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=40970"},"modified":"2026-01-26T11:20:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:20:34","slug":"fikret-isik-and-paula-barnes-cardinale-fellowship-enhancement-endowment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/fikret-isik-and-paula-barnes-cardinale-fellowship-enhancement-endowment\/","title":{"rendered":"$50K Endowment to Support \u2018Workhorses of Academic Research\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

Graduate students drive much of the day-to-day work behind scientific progress. As Fikret Isik puts it, they\u2019re the \u201cworkhorses of academic research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are the ones in the labs, in the greenhouses and in front of computers for a lot of long days and nights. Without them, I cannot imagine how research could get done,\u201d said Isik, a professor of forestry and environmental resources at NC State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isik\u2019s perspective underscores why he and his partner, Paula Barnes Cardinale, decided to make a $50,000 planned gift this summer to support graduate students interested in production forestry and forest health, especially tree breeding, Isik\u2019s passion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planned gifts such as bequests or designated funds allow donors to contribute through their estate plans, supporting important causes like scholarships, research and campus developments that align with their personal values and long-term goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This couple\u2019s gift will fund supplemental stipends, with priority given to North Carolina residents in the Cooperative Tree Improvement Program<\/a>, followed by students from other states and those in the forest genetics program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each semester, half a dozen graduate students conduct research to help Isik and Trevor Walker, co-directors of the Tree Improvement Program, fight diseases that threaten southern pines, a major export and income source for rural communities in the South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout funding, a lot of bright students won\u2019t be able to afford to go to graduate school \u2014 and our research will suffer,\u201d Isik said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal Experience Informs Giving<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Isik and Barnes Cardinale know the challenges students face. They both had to fund their own education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was born to illiterate parents in a remote part of Turkey. I got lucky to be accepted to government-run boarding schools throughout my education,\u201d Isik said. \u201cWe were very poor. While in college in Istanbul, I worked jobs like issuing tickets at the bus station to earn money to cover my expenses. Difficult times, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After receiving master\u2019s and doctoral degrees in Turkey, Isik was awarded a NATO-B1 Scholarship to conduct research in a NATO member country; he chose to go to NC State\u2019s Tree Improvement Program and subsequently was offered a post-doctoral position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the start of a new life in a new country at a new institution, Isik said, and a decade of writing grant requests for funding. Ten years later, in 2011, a couple of large seed companies offered him full-time senior-level positions \u2014 but the university didn\u2019t want to lose him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Tree Improvement Program and the university had already provided a lot of opportunities and resources for me to grow as a scientist. So when NC State offered me a tenure-track position, I decided to decline the offers from large seed companies and stay where I was,\u201d Isik said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was around this time that Isik met Barnes Cardinale. She grew up in Wake County, North Carolina, with parents who could afford to contribute just $100 a semester to her tuition. She earned a degree in mathematics with the help of scholarships and the work-study program and later financed a master\u2019s degree in library science on her own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barnes Cardinale went on to devote more than 30 years to teaching elementary, middle and high school students in her community.  Now retired from the classroom, she tutors and works with a small nonprofit school serving 2E (twice-exceptional) students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needless to say, education is important to this pair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFikret and I had been talking about wanting to do something for students at NC State for a couple of years. We definitely wanted to help where Fikret\u2019s passion is,\u201d Barnes Cardinale said. \u201cSo I made the call\u201d to the College of Natural Resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Encouragement for the Best and Brightest <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Isik and Barnes Cardinale have discussed at length what it will take to encourage exceptional students to pursue scientific careers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of demand for bright students, but we don\u2019t get as many applicants from the United States as from international students. I hope the endowment Paula and I started will bring them out. We want them to be able to travel to conferences to present their research and get to know the scientific world,\u201d Isik said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the past 15 or 20 years, this country has not grown the number of students who are interested in being scientists. I suspect it\u2019s more a matter of how much money you can earn over a career than a lack of desire. This country doesn\u2019t value scientists enough,\u201d Barnes Cardinale said. \u201cWe want to help people grow in their scientific field, and we want them to feel like other people find their work significant.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, she said, they want to extend the support Isik received when he was a young student and hope to encourage others to consider doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf others wonder whether they should give, they might ask themselves, \u2018Did someone help me? Did someone encourage me? Can I pay forward some of the help that made me more successful?\u2019 Even if it’s just $5, you’ve done something. And if you can\u2019t give money, you can give time,\u201d Barnes Cardinale said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was well said,\u201d Isik agreed. \u201cYou know, it feels good to give back to the community that helped you to be successful. It’s just the right thing to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n