Excitement builds over Texas A&M leadership in Climate Smart research, extension and teaching. Even though it was a suboptimal year for much of the crop production in Texas, we had a great year with our students. Congratulations to our December graduates. It is great to see our students transition into the world where they will continue to make a difference. It is reassuring to know that our future continues to be in the hands of well-trained, bright and highly motivated young people. It is also great that so many opportunities are available for our graduates.
Expense control is rapidly becoming a driver of discussions in our industry as commodity prices continue a general decline. Awareness of the importance of our soils and environment is increasing rapidly. These factors lead to great employment opportunities for our graduates. We need more students in our Plant and Environmental Soil Science and Turfgrass Science majors. Our graduate programs continue to produce students who are sought out by academia and industry.
This has been a great year for our faculty with their educational forums, conferences, research, publishing their work for use by others, leading new initiatives, releasing new cultivars, developing new technologies and bringing in grants to continue the research that is foundational to our educational and extension programs. It has been the best year in history for departmental faculty grant efforts.
Recent meetings with our Cotton State Support Committee, Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show and Texas Wheat Board capped off a great year of interaction with our constituents! The New Year will take off with Beltwide Conference, Plant Animal Genome meetings and our AgriLife Connect meeting.
We anticipate there will be several faculty members joining us in the New Year! We are excited that Jane Dever, Ph.D., has been selected as the new director of the Clemson University Pee Dee Research and Education Center. We look forward to a new wheat breeder taking over for Amir Ibrahim, Ph.D.; as well as a new cotton specialist at Lubbock; soils/agronomist at Weslaco; molecular geneticist at Dallas; rice agronomist/ at Beaumont; turf specialist at Dallas and a new micro-biome position at College Station.
We are looking forward to our holiday break and the time we will have to spend with family. Please remember AgriLife Connect and our Departmental Awards presentation on Jan. 11-12. We hope to celebrate the New Year with a special event that Thursday night.
Wishing you all a special season and Happy New Year!
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Congratulations December Graduates!
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Congratulations to our fall graduates! A total of 12 students -- seven undergraduates and five graduate students -- participated in the commencement activities at Reed Arena on Dec. 14-15. We are very proud of all and wish you good luck on your future endeavors!
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Texas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Sciences shines at international conference
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Several of our faculty and students received awards and recognition during the 2023 Tri-Societies annual meeting in St. Louis.
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A drive to make U.S. a leader in organic cotton
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A new Texas A&M AgriLife Research-led project involving several of our faculty members is looking at ways to identify challenges and opportunities for U.S. organic cotton growers.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture-funded project will help improve domestic organic cotton production in the future.
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Texas A&M AgriLife Research breeder explores adapting mung beans for Texas
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Professor and Texas A&M AgriLife Research organic and specialty crop breeder Waltram Ravelombola, Ph.D., is conducting variety trials on mung beans to measure their adaptability to harsh weather conditions in Texas. The beans could help provide both nutritional and environmental benefits to producers who want to introduce the plants into their crop rotations in the future.
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Digital agriculture, genetics, forages featured at Beeville station field day
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More than 50 people attended the Texas A&M AgriLife Research field day that was recently held at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Station in Beeville. Jamie Foster, Ph.D., and Mahendra Bhandari, Ph.D., were among the speakers at the event.
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AgriLife Research scientist selected to receive prestigious Humboldt fellowship
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Congratulations to professor Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D., as he was selected to receive the prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship for experienced researchers . Bagavathiannan was selected for this honor based on his research on ecological and precision weed control methods.
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Clayton Moore: Seventh generation farmer sees future in hemp
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Senior plant and environmental soil science major Clayton Moore is a seventh-generation farmer who aims to help rural farms by working to create new varieties of hemp that can withstand tough Texas growing conditions, like heat and drought. Moore's aspiration to make a significant impact in feeding, clothing and healing the world was one of the reasons he chose the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.
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Peyton Smith Newest Daughter Arrives!
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Congratulations Peyton Smith, Ph.D.! Smith welcomed her newest daughter, Kestrel Marrelle, who was born on Oct. 23.
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Vikas Tyagi receives sandwich scholarship from USAID
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Congratulations to doctoral student Vikas Tyagi as he was recently selected as a recipient of a Ph.D. Sandwich Scholarship from the U.S. Agency for International Development. This scholarship will allow Tyagi to spend time at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to work on part of his dissertation research. Tyagi is supervised by Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D.
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Students receive top awards at graduate organization’s oral and poster contest, practice session
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The Soil and Crop Sciences Graduate Organization held a special oral and poster session on Oct. 27 before the Tri-Societies meeting. The session allowed students to practice their posters and oral presentations before they traveled to St. Louis on Oct. 31-Nov. 2. The winners from this session include:
Poster:
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First Place: Bholuram Gurjar. Gurjar is a doctoral student in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and supervised by Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D.
- Second Place: Ubaldo Torres. Torres is a doctoral student in agronomy and supervised by Bagavathiannan.
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Third Place (tie): Gustavo Silva and Khushboo Rastogi. Silva is a doctoral student in agronomy and supervised by Bagavathiannan. Rastogi is a doctoral student in genetics and supervised by Endang Septiningsih, Ph.D.
Oral:
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First Place: Aaron DeSalvio. DeSalvio is a doctoral student in genetics and genomics and supervised by Seth Murray, Ph.D.
- Second Place: Kathryn Watson. Watson is a master’s student in plant and environmental soil science and supervised by Briana Wyatt, Ph.D.
- Third Place: Sk Musfiq Salahin. Salahin is a doctoral student in agronomy and supervised by Nithya Rajan, Ph.D.
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Seth Murray's research featured on Texas A&M Today
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Megan Schill receives Council for Agricultural Science and Technology scholarship
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Congratulations to doctoral student Megan Schill as she received the Council for Agriculture Science and Technology’s Science Communication Scholarship. Schill was recognized during CAST’s annual meeting held in College Station. Schill is supervised by Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D.
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Hamberg, Johnson receive Weed Science Society of America travel awards
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Congratulations to Ryan Hamberg and Joe Johnson! Both students received the Weed Science Society of America’s Graduate Travel Award. The award will allow both students to travel to the Weed Science Society of America and the 2024 Southern Weed Science Society joint annual meeting in San Antonio.
Hamberg and Johnson are doctoral students in agronomy who are supervised by Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D.
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Students and faculty receive honors at Texas Plant Protection Conference
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Congratulations to the following students and faculty members who won awards at the 2023 Texas Plant Protection Association's annual Plant Protection Conference held at the Brazos Center on Dec. 5-6!
Congratulations to the following students and faculty members who won awards at the 2023 Texas Plant Protection Association's annual Plant Protection Conference held at the Brazos Center on Dec. 5-6.
- TPPA Academic/Agency Award: Reagan Noland, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agronomist, San Angelo.
- Outstanding Graduate Student-Ph.D.: Ubaldo Torres. Torres is supervised by Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D.
- First Place-Master's Poster Contest: Matthew Stewart. Stewart is supervised by Reagan Noland, Ph.D.
- Second Place-Ph.D. Poster Contest: Ryan Hamberg. Hamberg is supervised by Bagavathiannan.
- Third Place-Ph.D. Poster Contest: Purushottam Gyawali. Gyawali is supervised by Bagavathiannan.
- First Place Pest Identification Contest: Dale Mott, AgriLife Extension program specialist, Bryan-College Station.
- AgriLife Extension state cotton specialist Ben McKnight, Ph.D., was recognized as the incoming president for TPPA.
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Student organization, Jessup speak at Texas Hemp Summit
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The Texas Hemp Coalition recently hosted the second annual Texas Hemp Summit, where experts come together to discuss topics spanning the Texas hemp industry.
Department head, David Baltensperger, Ph.D., welcomed the audience during the Friday morning session. Texas A&M AgriLife Research hemp breeder Russell Jessup, Ph.D., and members of the Cannabis Hemp Innovation League student organization were invited speakers during the Saturday afternoon session.
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Dec. 25, 2023-Jan. 1, 2024
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Beltwide Cotton Conferences
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Jan. 3-5, 2024 | Fort Worth
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Texas A&M AgriLife Connect
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Jan.11-12, 2024 | College Station
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Soil and Crop Sciences Departmental Awards
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Jan. 11, 2024 | Scotts Miracle-Gro Turfgrass Facility, College Station
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Turfgrass and Ecology Short Course - English
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Feb. 19-22 | Scotts Miracle-Gro Turfgrass Facility, College Station
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Turfgrass and Ecology Short Course - Spanish
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Feb. 26-27 | Scotts Miracle-Gro Turfgrass Facility, College Station
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Giving to Soil and Crop Sciences
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Student and faculty development are top priorities for Soil and Crop Sciences. Through Experiential Learning Endowments we can offer students new learning experiences outside of the classroom to help prepare them for the working world. Professorships and chairs help us bring top faculty and students into the program. Your donation can also help us continue to lead in research on specific crops and remain globally competitive as a top research university.
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About the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
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The Department of Soil and Crop Sciences is one of the largest such departments in the nation and is preeminent throughout the world. Through our undergraduate and graduate programs, we're training future leaders, poised to advance soil and crop sciences to solve global issues in human, economic and environmental health. Our world-famous faculty have a presence in every county in Texas. Working in partnership with Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, their goal is to conduct soil and crop sciences research through trials and experimentation and then transfer that new knowledge to the public.
aglifesciences.tamu.edu | soilcrop.tamu.edu
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