Experiment Station awards scientists, staff
Several Mississippi State University faculty and staff members with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station were recently honored for research and service contributions.
Brian Baldwin, a MAFES scientist and professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, received the 2013 Excellence in Research Award sponsored by Mississippi Land Bank. The focus of Baldwin’s research is the development of grasses for renewable energy. Baldwin holds two U.S. patents with a third pending, a cultivar release and a plant variety protection. His work with Freedom, a warm-season giant miscanthus used for biomass, has been licensed to REPREVE Renewables.
Assistant professor Robert Kroger in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture received the Grantsmanship Award, which is presented to the scientist who obtains the most research funding from outside sources in the fiscal year. Kroger’s research primarily deals with water conservation in agricultural settings.
Jonathan Greene, a graduate student in veterinary medicine, received the Outstanding Scientific Publication Award. The article, which was co-authored by associate provost Peter Ryan, was published in the Journal of Nutrition and describes the beneficial effect of amino acids in reproduction.
Jeff Gore, an assistant research professor and entomologist located at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, received the award for a publication having the most impact on Mississippi agriculture. Gore and his co-authors worked across three states and three years to develop an easy method to trigger economically optimal insecticide applications in cotton. The research was published in the Journal of Economic Entomology.
Four facilities managers received Face and Image awards for their efforts to maintain MAFES facilities around the state. Honors were given to Keith Daniels, superintendent of the Black Belt Branch Experiment Station in Brooksville and the research centers on campus; Sam Tackitt, farm supervisor at the Pontotoc Ridge-Flatwoods Branch Experiment Station; Peter Hudson, operations manager for the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station near Crystal Springs; and Larry Fitzgerald, research associate and facilities manager at the White Sands Unit near Poplarville.
Two staff members received recognition for their contributions to the university. Debra Price, office associate in agricultural economics received the staff award. Peter Hudson, operations coordinator at the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station, received the professional staff award.
Karen Brasher | Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station
