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Crisp mornings, harvested corn and white bolls of cotton on the stalks make it officially feel like fall. Winter forages and small grains are planned and being planted; now they wait for rain. It is hard to believe that while areas of the country are still digging out from the disastrous effects of hurricanes, we are facing the lack of moisture in our soil.
As fall settles in, outdoor field days give way to the indoor conferences. October has been busy with the Turfgrass and Landscape Field Day, Bennett Women’s Land Stewardship Conference, Ranch Management University and the Surface Mine Reclamation workshop.
We are rapidly preparing for the Tri-Society meetings, CAST 50th Anniversary and other major events.
We invite all to join us for our Soil and Crop Sciences Mixer at ASA. It will be Tuesday, November 8, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Pratt Street Ale House. This is just across the street from the convention center in Baltimore. We hope to see many of you there.
Our search continues to fill the Soil and Water Chemistry, Small Grains Extension and Microbiology positions on campus as well as Weed/Ecology position at Lubbock. We are also completing the writing for our program review following our summer retreat.
Harvest continues for many, with new data being collected by our researchers. Each year helps us answer some questions, while raising others. Researchers continue to look at conventional and unconventional methods to grow the food needed to feed our global neighborhood. Climate change work got a huge boost from the Climate Smart Programs. The largest grant ever for the department is led by Julie Howe and Nithya Rajan, and Katie Lewis and others are involved in other grants from the program that combine to be the largest five-year infusion of funds to the department in history (see articles inside and watch for more to come). A huge whoop!
Our Agronomy Society's annual Fightin' Texas Aggie Corn Maze is ready to go. Once again weather created problems, but the students and faculty rallied to make things work.This event is fun for the community but is also a great learning tool for the involved students. The maze will be open Oct. 21-23, as well as Halloween weekend and Halloween. The times will be announced closer to the event.
Thanks & Gig 'em!
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| David Baltensperger, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Head
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Top News from Soil and Crop Sciences
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Texas A&M AgriLife to lead historic investment in Texas' efforts to become 'climate-smart'
Professor Julie Howe, Ph.D., will be leading the department's largest competitive grant to help expand the the state's climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices. The five-year grant, called the Texas Climate Smart Initiative, involves our commodity partners and several statewide collaborators from Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M University System.
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Students gain experience working with Little League grounds crew
Two turfgrass students, Hailey Tucker and Megan Muesse, received the opportunity of a lifetime when they were selected to join an all-female grounds crew for the Little League Softball World Series in North Carolina. The students discussed how a grounds crew at a baseball/softball stadium keeps the field in shape and showed how this experience will help them with their coursework and future career searches.
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AgriLife Extension turfgrass specialist to expand Hispanic outreach
Assistant professor Manuel Chavarria, Ph.D., who recently joined the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences as a turfgrass specialist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, is working to improve training materials for workers in the green industry who are primarily from the Hispanic community.
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Grace Bodine and Julie Howe receive Dean's Outstanding Achievement Awards
Recent graduate Grace Bodine and professor Julie Howe, Ph.D., received Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Awards during a ceremony on October 13 at the Shirley and Joe Swinbank '74 AgriLife Center. Bodine was honored with an award in the Research category and Howe was honored with a Teaching award.
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Texas A&M AgriLife displays turfgrass research at field day
New turfgrass varieties soon to be released or in the development pipeline were highlighted at the recent Texas A&M Turfgrass and Landscape Field Day in College Station. The field day, which drew more than 250 participants, showcased the latest research fieldwork by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
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Dinesh Phuyal wrote an article about science advocacy and leadership opportunities for graduate students. The article focused on congressional visit day and explains how and why graduate students need to get involved in science policy. Phuyal is a master’s student advised by Nithya Rajan, Ph.D.
Several of our faculty members were recognized during the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ annual Fall Faculty Convocation. Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D., Fugen Dou, Ph.D., Julie Howe, Ph,D., and Nithya Rajan, Ph.D., were recognized for promotion to professor and Scott Nolte, Ph.D., was recognized for promotion to associate professor.
We also welcomed University of Minnesota postdoctoral research associate Sarick Matzen, Ph.D., as the graduate seminar speaker on September 7. Matzen got the chance to speak with several of our faculty and graduate students, as well as tour some of the labs. Matzen’s topic was “Biogeochemical Cycling of Trace Elements from Urban Agricultural Soils to Deep Ocean Waters."
Members of the Big Cedar Golf and Payne’s Valley Golf Course in Missouri recently visited the Scotts turfgrass research facility to speak with our turfgrass students. The students heard from Big Cedar’s director of agronomy Jeff Steen and Payne’s Valley superintendent Steven Johnson about internships and about the golf course.
Congratulations to senior plant and environmental soil science major Lindsey Donaldson as she joins the Texas A&M Agricultural and Natural Resources Policy Internship Program this fall. Donaldson will travel to Ghana to start her internship at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Doctoral student Sarah Kezar has been selected as a 2022 ASA/CSSA/SSSA Encompass Fellow. Kezar is advised by Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D. Congratulations on this recognition of your hard work!
We had great participation at the fifth annual Gene Editing Symposium that was held the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the Texas A&M Bush School on October 13. Five Soil and Crop Sciences students were among the 17 who competed in the research poster competition.
We also want to give a big Thanks and Gig ‘em to Richard Percy ’79, who established a scholarship to support graduate students pursuing a master’s or doctorate degree in Plant Breeding! Percy remembers scratching coins together as a graduate student, and he is very happy to help reduce the burden of everyday living for others. Thank you Richard!
Match your Gift Today
Double your Impact
Matches Available for Scholarship Gifts
The Texas A&M Foundation is partnering with the University to offer several Foundation Excellence Award match scholarships to support qualified students from underserved groups and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. By helping remove financial barriers, these scholarships allow hard-working students to turn their Aggie dreams into reality.
- Donor pays $10,000 in full or pledges $2,500 over four years
- TAMU match is $2,500 per year for four years
- Total scholarship to the student is $20,000 over four years ($5,000 annually)
- The donor can place criteria/preferences on their scholarship and name it for whomever they choose.
To learn more about donating and how you can help, call or email Director of Development Megan Hutchison at (979) 845-9314, mhutchison@txamfoundation.com.
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- October 21,22, 23 and October 28, 30, 31: Texas A&M Agronomy Society Fightin' Texas Aggie Corn Maze
- October 25-27: Council for Agricultural Science and Technology 50th anniversary reunion, Ames, Iowa
- November 18-21: World Food Prize, Des Moines, Iowa
- November 22: Soil and Crop/Entomology Thanksgiving Lunch, Heep Center Room 424
- SSSA/CSSA/ASA Meeting – November 6-9, Baltimore, MD
- November 8 at 6:30 p.m.: SSSA/CSSA/ASA Meeting Mixer - Pratt Street Ale House, Baltimore, MD
- November 28-30 - Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show, Amarillo
- November 30-December 1: Texas State Support, Lubbock
- December 6-7: Texas Plant Protection Association Conference, Brazos Center, Bryan
- December 13-14: Texas Turfgrass Association Winter Conference, Denton
Don't miss out on upcoming events across our department, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Texas A&M AgriLife.
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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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