Division Updates

Food Systems and Bioengineering  |  Plant Sciences  |  Applied Social Sciences  |  Animal Sciences  |  School of Natural Resources  |  Division of Biochemistry

Food Systems and Bioengineering

The Division of Food Systems and Bioengineering handles research, academic and extension programs. The four academic programs in the division are Agricultural Systems Management, Biological Engineering, Food Science and Hotel and Restaurant Management.

Through these programs, the division strives to improve health and quality of life by advancing medical technologies for disease diagnosis and prevention. It also seeks to enhance agricultural knowledge that delivers high-quality food and non-food products to consumers in a safe, efficient and environmentally friendly manner.

Food Systems and Bioengineering is primarily housed in three buildings: Eckles Hall, the William C. Stringer Wing of Eckles Hall and the Agricultural Engineering Building.

Bob Schultheis, agricultural engineering specialist, is helping farmers and other agriculturalists avoid and cope with work-related pain. Farming, forestry and fishing rank as the most dangerous occupations, with risk factors two to five times that of other occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Schultheis presents a conference titled Growing Well With Pain. "Studies show about 20 percent of the rural Missouri population has one or more disabilities, but over half choose to continue to work in spite of them," said Schultheis.

The Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology was created to enhance Missouri's growing grape and wine industry by conducting research on best winemaking and grape growing practices. Faculty research and teaching teams are working on viticulture (grape production) and enology (wine production) and involve students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This experience will better prepare them to work at vineyards and Missouri's 78 wineries, which currently are forced to hire out-of-state workers unfamiliar with Missouri's climate and soil conditions.

Three Biological Engineering faculty members won the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Awards: Sherman Fan (fluorescence resonant energy transfer in opto-fluidic ring resonators for ultrasensitive biomolecule detection), Andrew Gu (single molecule study of oligonucleotide-protein interaction and folding in a nanopore) and Gary Yao (light propagation in striated muscles). These awards are designed to support the brightest young scientists in the nation.

MU's Quarter Scale Pulling Team has had a successful year, placing well in several American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers national competitions. Team members are undergraduate students majoring in agriculture systems management or mechanical engineering. The competition gives students real-world engineering experience using off-the-shelf engines and specially-made equipment.

A new food science degree with an emphasis in enology is being offered to provide students with in-depth education in the science and business of wine production. This is the first of its kind in the Midwest. Missouri's wine industry has grown from 50 to more than 70 wineries over the past five years. A study commissioned by the Grape and Wine Board reports that the local wine industry employs almost 6,200 people and in 2007 generated an estimated $70 million in federal, state and local tax revenue.

Hotel and Restaurant Management students are getting practical experience in the hospitality industry at the Gathering Place, a popular Columbia bed and breakfast. The MU College of Agriculture Foundation, a private group that supports the College, purchased the facility and then leased it to CAFNR. For students, it's not a classroom building, but more of a laboratory, one that will provide them with a unique educational experience in a variety of areas. Students who enroll in the program as their capstone class will work alongside a university-hired innkeeper to deal with the daily functions of a bed and breakfast.

Seonghee Cho, assistant professor in Hotel and Restaurant Management, received a first-of-its-kind $600,000 grant to design and produce a food safety training program specifically for the nation's Hispanic employees in the food service industry. The U.S. restaurant industry employs more than 12.8 million workers, about 22 percent of whom are Hispanics. According to a 2004 study, about 75 percent of all food-borne illnesses are caused by mistakes made by employees in restaurants, often because they lack food safety knowledge.

Azlin Mustapha, associate professor and a food science researcher, has developed an energy bar that promises the health benefits of soy without the undesirable side effects of gas, bloating and abdominal pain. Soy is one of the healthiest ingredients, thought to have cancer-fighting, anti-aging and cholesterol-lowering properties. Mustapha was part of a team of food scientists that added probiotics, or friendly bacteria, that can digest the carbs in soy to create a healthier soy energy bar without the gastrointestinal side effects.

Plant Sciences

The Division of Plant Sciences provides leadership for plant, insect and microbe-based research, education and extension programs in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. The division is the sole academic program in the state to address issues related to plant production, plant protection and plant biology from the laboratory to the field.

Division faculty contribute to advances in conventional, sustainable and alternative production systems, plant biology, genetics and breeding, plant protection and pest management, plant-insect/pathogen interactions, plant-soil relationships and environmental quality.

The Division was formed in 2005 through the consolidation of the former departments of Agronomy, Entomology, Horticulture and Plant Microbiology and Pathology. Programs formerly housed in those departments now reside in the division.

Robert Sharp was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This international non-profit organization is dedicated to advancing science around the world through education, leadership and communication. He also received the Frederick B. Mumford Outstanding Faculty Award for 2008 from CAFNR for his sustained record of excellence in teaching, research and/or extension/outreach.

Gene Stevens is studying the use of center pivot irrigation such as farmers use with soybean, corn and other row crops to reduce costs and water usage in rice production. Rice, an important crop in Southeast Missouri, is usually grown on leveled, flooded fields. The crop uses large amounts of water with this traditional production system.

The prestigious journal Science recently published a paper by Deborah Finke, entomologist in the Division of Plant Sciences, and her colleague W.E. Snyder from Washington State University titled "Niche Partitioning Increases Resource Exploitation by Diverse Communities."

Rob Kallenbach received the Donald Fancher Provost's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Extension and Continuing Education.

Brad Fresenburg received the CAFNR Outstanding Teaching Award. "Brad demonstrates clarity of presentations and assignments, variability of instructional materials and teaching methodology, enthusiasm for his subject matter, and a task-oriented teaching style that provides a variety of opportunities for turf students to learn," said Mike Collins, director of Plant Sciences.

Brett Naylor, Plant Sciences undergraduate major, received the Outstanding Senior Award from the CAFNR Student Council. The award recognizes students who demonstrate leadership and involvement in CAFNR activities.

Craig Roberts received the J.W. Burch State Specialist Agricultural Extension Award. This award recognizes state specialists for effectiveness of program leadership with field staff, quality of extension publications, presentations and other educational materials, and recognition by state and national peers for program quality.

Missy Remley, a Plant Sciences graduate student, won first place in the Forages and Grazinglands Division of the Graduate Student Competition at the International CSSA/ASA/SSSA meeting in New Orleans, La. Her work is titled: "Is Leaf Nitrogen in Stockpiled Tall Fescue Used for Root Growth During Winter?"

Melissa Mitchum, assistant professor, is co-principal investigator on a recently-awarded National Science Foundation grant for $2.1 million to study the development of plant resistance to important soybean diseases. Her work is directed at the soybean cyst nematode problem.

The Show-Me Yards and Neighborhoods Program workshops reached more than 300 homeowners in the Columbia, Mo. area with management strategies to reduce nutrient, pesticide and soil runoff.

The Missouri Master Gardener Program has more than 1,500 members in 73 counties around Missouri. Master Gardeners work on horticulture-related public community service projects and implement education programs through workshops and short courses.

Staph and MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) infections are concerns for the sports turf industry using synthetic fields. At the South Farm near campus, the MU Turfgrass Research Group is preparing to study new experimental synthetic surfaces for survivability of bacteria and response to disinfectants.

Work by Division of Plant Sciences researchers Robert Sharp and Henry Nguyen was mentioned in a Science article. The two researchers are working to better understand how roots of corn and other important crops respond to drought conditions.

Isoflavones in soybeans can be beneficial for people with obesity, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other problems. David Sleper and his graduate student, Juan Gutierrez, are using genetic techniques to better understand factors affecting isoflavone accumulation in seeds.

Robert Sites, entomologist, has helped to discover more than 50 new insect species over the last three years working in Thailand on a grant funded by the National Science Foundation.

Division of Applied Social Sciences

The purpose of the Division of Applied Social Sciences (DASS) is to develop and empower decision makers who manage the global food and natural resource systems and lead rural communities. The mission is to be the leading institution in outreach-driven education and research that integrates science-based information into public and private decision making. While much of the focus is on issues of concern to Missouri, DASS also works in areas that directly affect national and international policy.

The division is home to four academic programs: Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Education, Agricultural Journalism and Rural Sociology. In addition, DASS houses several centers, institutes and programs including Research and Extension activities.

DASS is involved in two programs that are core activities of MU Extension: the Agriculture and Natural Resources Program and Community Development Extension. Rural Sociology faculty play lead roles in the Community Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture Program. Also involved are the Farm Management and Commercial Agriculture Extension faculty in Agricultural Economics.

The Community Development Extension Program is closely linked to DASS. Four state CD Extension Specialists are also DASS Faculty appointed in Rural Sociology and two CD-linked faculty are in Agricultural Economics.

Enrollment in DASS programs has jumped. For example, enrollment last fall in Ag Econ 1041 (Applied Microeconomics) exceeds 600 students, a gain of approximately 20 percent from 2007. Similarly, Ag Ed 2220 (Verbal Communication) had nearly 120 students, double the previous fall's number.

Robert Torres and Rob Terry, agricultural education, became the latest DASS faculty members to earn the Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence Award, the most prestigious award on the MU campus.  Previous DASS winners are Sandy Rikoon, Bryan Garton, Jan Dauve, Rex Campbell, Joel Hartman and Mary Grigsby.

Jan Dauve, agricultural economics and business, received the MU Excellence in Advising Award that was presented in April 2008. 

The 2008 Breimeyer Seminar on Agricultural Policy, held in September, attracted a record 200 participants.

Randy Westgren, from the University of Illinois, joined the MU Faculty in December 2008 as the McQuinn Chair of Entrepreneurial Leadership. Establishment of the Chair has stimulated an expansion of DASS's entrepreneurship activities on the campus and in the state.  It sponsored a November 2008 conference focusing on rural entrepreneurship initiatives.

The Graduate Institute of Cooperative Leadership is now over 30 years old and attracting more attendees than ever before.

The publication of the Missouri Hunger Atlas in early 2008 attracted significant media attention throughout the state.

DASS Centers, including the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, the Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems, the Community Policy Analysis Center and the Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis continue to provide excellent information to citizens and policy makers. 

Animal Sciences

The Division of Animal Sciences helps provide high quality intellectual experiences to educate students to understand and contribute successfully throughout their lives to a rapidly changing global and culturally diverse society, enhance existing strategic research strengths that will provide basic understanding and solve problems of animal agriculture and have potential applications to human medicine, maintain ongoing communications with the various clientele groups to ensure that priority research and education issues are identified and addressed, and remain at the forefront of knowledge and technology.

With continuing major impacts in genomics, nutrition, reproduction, environmental physiology and livestock production, the division has established its program as one of the leaders in ruminant and non-ruminant nutrition. It will play a major role in the utilization of by-products from ethanol production in Missouri. The reproductive physiology and genomics research programs are nationally and internationally recognized for scientific discovery and development of cutting edge technology. The division provides a diverse and dynamic extension effort serving the broad-based Missouri animal agriculture.

The division marked its 100th anniversary with a Centennial Celebration on April 19, 2008. Before merging with the Department of Animal Science in 1983 and 1989, the original departments were Dairy Husbandry, Animal Husbandry, and Poultry Husbandry which were established in 1901, 1904 and 1911, respectively. 

Michael Smith, professor, was awarded the MU Graduate College Mentor Award, the Society for the Study of Reproduction Graduate Mentor Award, the American Society of Animal Science Teaching Award and the MU Maxine Christopher Shutz Teaching Award.

Marcia Shannon, associate professor, received the MU Excellence in Education Award and Jerry Taylor was recognized as the CAFNR Celebration of Excellence Distinguished Researcher for 2008.

Randy Prather, Curator's professor, received the Mizzou Alumni Association Faculty Award and the Society for the Study of Reproduction Research Award. His work in helping develop a swine animal model for cystic fibrosis received national and international recognition.

David Patterson, professor of extension and research, received the MU Donald W. Fancher Provost's Extension Award.

Jared Decker, a PhD candidate in Dr. Jerry Taylor's laboratory, won the poster competition in the Genetics, Environment and Evolution section for the MU Life Sciences Week.

The division's graduate research program received the 2008 MU Outstanding Departmental Contributions to Graduate Education Award which recognizes well-established and highly innovative contributions that departments or interdepartmental units make to enhance the quality of MU graduate programs and to the successful careers of their graduate alumni. The award provides the winning department with $30,000 to recognize and support efforts to further enhance the quality of graduate education.

School of Natural Resources

The School of Natural Resources is nothing if not diverse. Graduates are shaping new environmental policies, conserving soil, assuring healthy streams and clean water, managing forests for multiple benefits, providing for abundant fish and wildlife populations, creating outdoor recreational opportunities, using natural resources to provide therapy, predicting weather occurrences and climatic patterns, monitoring changes in the environment and educating others about the environment.

Areas within the school include Atmospheric Science, Environmental Sciences, Fisheries and Wildlife, Forestry, Soil Science, and Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

SNR is housed in the Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building containing state-of-the-art teaching, research, and outreach-extension facilities. Several SNR programs are ranked among the top 10 of similar programs nationally. SNR has approximately 480 undergraduates, 120 graduate students, and 45 faculty members.

Stephen Anderson was appointed as the Albrecht Professor of Soil Science in recognition of his stellar research and teaching programs.

Jack Jones, Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences, was awarded a Senior Fulbright Fellowship. Jones was in Nepal in October 2008 conducting graduate training workshops, lectures and seminars. Read about his research in Lives of Nepal's subsistence fish farmers dramatically improved with help from an MU professor, some science and vertical cages.

Sonja Wilhelm Stanis joined the faculty in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. Dr. Stanis a 2008 graduate from the University of Minnesota brings strong expertise in natural resources park management and outdoor recreation to the School.

Atmospheric Science graduate students Brian Pettegrew, Chris Melick, Willie Gilmore, Chris Foltz, Melissa Chesser and Amy Schnetzler recently earned the First Place Award from the National Weather Association in an aviation forecasting competition.

The undergraduate Forestry Club earned Second Place at the 57th Midwestern Foresters Conclave held at Michigan Tech University in September 2008.

The Department of Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences celebrates its 75th anniversary at MU this year.

SNR launched the new Master of Natural Resources degree program in January 2008. Intended for early to mid-career professionals in any natural resource discipline, this non-thesis degree program is an individualized, interdisciplinary graduate degree.

Division of Biochemistry

The Division of Biochemistry provides education, training and research opportunities to the future leaders in the field of biochemistry.

The division offers an undergraduate degree in biochemistry through the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, the only one at MU and one of the largest in the U.S. Enrollment in this program has nearly tripled in size over the past decade.

Biochemistry annually admits approximately 10 students into the graduate program. Training is designed to provide exposure to fundamental biochemical principles and to promote development of critical thinking skills. Support for postdoctoral research is available through individual faculty research awards or campus interdisciplinary programs.

Nearly all facets of contemporary biochemical research are represented in the faculty's collective research interests. Last year, these individuals attracted over $5,000,000 in external research funds, and published more than 150 papers in refereed journals. Biochemistry ranks among the top academic units at the University of Missouri in the amount of external research funding obtained by its faculty.

Douglas Randall, emeritus professor and Thomas Jefferson Fellow, was selected by President George Bush for a second six-year term on the National Science Board. The NSB is made up of 24 members and provides oversight for the policies of the National Science Foundation. The board also serves as an independent body of advisors to both the President and Congress on broad, national policy issues related to science and engineering research and education.

The addition to Schweitzer Hall was completed within budget and one month ahead of the target completion date. All faculty and the fiscal office moved into their new space by the end of January 2008. The building houses seven researchers focused on various aspects of medical biochemistry.

Thomas Guilfoyle, professor, and Douglas Randall, earned the American Society of Plant Biologists Fellows Award. This recognizes and honors long-term members of the Society who have made major contributions to the discipline in diverse areas that include research, education, mentoring, outreach, and professional and public service.

Thomas Guilfoyle; Gerald Hazelbauer, professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry; and Jan Miernyk, research molecular biologist, were elected Fellows of American Association for the Advancement of Science. Fellows are recognized for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications.

Thomas Mawhinney, associate professor and director of CAFNR Experiment Station Laboratories, received the Problems Based Learning Excellence in Teaching Award as Outstanding Instructor in the Preclinical Curriculum.

Bruce McClure, professor, was elected as a member of the Executive Board of Science Teachers of Missouri. Science Teachers of Missouri is the state chapter of the National Science Teachers Association. The chapter serves as a link with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, speaking for teachers on matters related to science education.

The National Institutes of Health renewed a $7 million grant to Grace Sun, professor, for a project aimed at identifying the causes of Alzheimer's disease.

William Folk, professor, was awarded a $750,000 Science Education Grant from the Howard Hughes Foundation to help high school teachers develop new curricula to help to teach students fundamental concepts of molecular and cellular biology, public health and medical sciences. The MU program is called Maps in Medicine.

Stephanie Carleton, postdoc in Charlotte Phillips' lab, was granted one of three fellowships from National Space Biomedical Research Institute to help future astronauts reduce bone loss on long-distance flights.

Mark Palmier, graduate student in Steve Van Doren's lab, was honored with the Gehrke Analytical Biochemistry Award.

Story by: Randy Mertens
Posted: May 28, 2009