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Congratulations to our December graduates. It is great to see our students move out into the world where they will continue to make a difference. It is reassuring to know that agriculture continues to be in the hands of bright and highly motivated young people.
Commodity prices are the highest for the crops we work with than they have been in several years, and awareness of the importance of our soils and environment is increasing rapidly. These factors lead to the best employment opportunities for our graduates in many years and we need more students in our Plant and Environmental Soil Science and Turfgrass Science majors. Our graduate programs continue to produce students that are sought out by academia and industry.
It has been a great year for our faculty with face-to-face teaching, educational forums, conferences, research, publishing their work for use by others, releasing new cultivars, developing new technologies and bringing in grants to continue the research that is foundational to our educational, and extension programs. Efforts to sequester and preserve more carbon in our soils through cropping systems has become a key area of focus. We are looking forward to our holiday break and the time we will have to spend with family. Please remember our Christmas Open House from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at our home on December 22. Wishing you all a special season and Happy New Year!
Please read on below to get a glimpse into the achievements and advancements in teaching, research, Extension and service coming out of our department this year.
Thanks & Gig 'em!
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| David Baltensberger, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Head
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| Top News from Soil and Crop Sciences
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Doctoral student Sarah Kezar tackles a troublesome herbicide-resistant weed
Sarah Kezar, a doctoral student in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, is working with Texas A&M AgriLife researchers to tackle challenges presented by Palmer amaranth, a super weed that threatens cotton production. As a Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research Fellow and budding weed scientist, Sarah aims to develop sustainable weed management tactics to control Palmer amaranth and help Texas cotton produce reap economic benefits.
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Adaptive swarm robotics could revolutionize smart agriculture
Texas A&M University System researchers are working to establish a configurable, adaptive and scalable swarm system consisting of unmanned ground and aerial robots designed to assist in collaborative smart agriculture tasks.
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Regenerative agriculture evaluation gets underway in Texas and Oklahoma
A multidisciplinary team led by Dr. Katie Lewis in Texas A&M AgriLife Research will be evaluating the impact that regenerative agriculture is having in semi-arid ecoregions in Texas and Oklahoma. This 5-year, $10 million grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, NIFA, project will also result in improved education and outreach programs for students and consumers in those regions in the future.
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Congratulations December 2021 Graduates
The Department of Soil and Crop Sciences would like to congratulate all of our undergraduate and graduate students that are expected to graduate December 2021.
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Soil and Crop faculty and students earn honors at national conference
Several faculty members and students received top awards during this year’s annual meeting of the Tri-Societies that was held in Salt Lake City in November. Awards included top posters and research presentations from students. Several administrative and top faculty received special honors during the meeting.
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There are several new and promoted faculty members on our team. We look forward to great things as this group moves forward in their careers.
Please help us welcome the following new faculty:
- Shyamal Talukder, Ph.D., rice breeding, Beaumont
- Felipe Aburto, Ph.D., soil ecology, College Station
- Mahendra Bhandari, Ph.D., digital agronomist, Corpus Christi
- Gurjinder Singh Baath, Ph.D. digital agronomist, Temple
Several faculty also recieved promotions. Congratulations to:
- Emi Kimura, Ph.D., promoted to associate professor and Extension Specialist
- Jake Mower, Ph.D. promoted to associate professor and Extension Specialist
- Anil Somenahally, Ph.D., promoted to professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Research
- Shuyu Liu, Ph.D. promoted to professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Research
- Ben Wherley, Ph.D. promoted to professor, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Other faculty will be transitioning into alternate roles. Congratulations to:
- D. Fernando Guillen, Ph.D. as he transitions to a new role in Montana breeding Camelina
- Curtis Adams, Ph.D. as he transitions to an ARS physiology role in Oregon.
- Diane Boellstorff, Ph.D., Paul Schwab, Ph.D., and Jacqueline Aitkenhead-Peterson, Ph.D. as they transition to emeritus roles
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We are going to be very busy this spring starting with the Beltwide Cotton Conference in San Antonio on January 4-6 and the Blackland Income Growth, or BIG Conference the next week on January 11. We are also excited about the presentation of Vice Chancellor's Awards in Excellence Awards on January 14. We are pleased that we can recruit for a new Extension Turfgrass Specialist at College Station.
Keeping with the theme of awards and recognition, we are also holding our annual Department of Soil and Crop Sciences Annual Meeting where we will announce our departmental awards. Click on the button below to see more events coming up in the next two months!
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About the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
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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