The CAFNR Research Council (CRC) is an advisory body for the CAFNR Office of Research, created to implement the CAFNR Strategic Plan and Drive CAFNR research enterprise to Distinction.
Members
- Jay Chism
- Shokhrukh-Mirzo Jalilov
- Jay Johnson
- Ron Mittler
- Rebecca North
- Bongkosh Vardhanabhuti
- Gary Weisman
- Jeri Lou Zimmerman
Events
The Council hosts a Research Symposium each fall to showcase innovation by CAFNR faculty, academic associates, postdocs and students in each of the six divisions. Activities include a keynote presentation, research lectures, lightning talks and poster sessions.
Webinars are held throughout the year to touch on timely research topics by CAFNR faculty or present resources available by outside entities.
CAFNR Research Council Webinar Series
- Feb. 11, 2026, 3:30 p.m.
“Understanding Environmental Change in Grassland and Forest Systems”, Samniqueka Halsey, School of Natural Resources. Watch on Zoom.
- Nov. 19, 2025
“Leveraging the US Corn Ecosystem for Producing Natural Food Colorants and Value-added Bioactive Compounds“, Pavel Somavat, Division of Food, Nutrition & Exercise Sciences and Chemical & Biomedical Engineering. - Oct. 15, 2025
“Fueling University Research and Inventions Through Alternative Funding Pathways“, Syed Barizuddin, Missouri Innovation Center. - April 30, 2025
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Spatiotemporal Methodologies for Climate Factor Analysis“, Qian Liu, assistant professor, School of Natural Resources.
“AI tools that can help your research today“, Mauro Palmero, associate professor, Division of Applied Social Sciences. - March 19, 2025
“What Lies Ahead of Human-Nature Interactions?“, Seunguk Shin, associate professor, School of Natural Recourses.
“Navigating Generative AI Ethically: Do’s and Don’ts for Academia and Personal Use“, Daniel Credeur, associate teaching professor, Division of Food, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences. - Feb. 26, 2025
“Trends in the Diversity of Agricultural Landscapes“, Katherine S. Nelson, associate professor, School of Natural Resources.
- Nov. 13, 2024, 3 p.m.
“Generative AI for Interdisciplinary Innovation: Bridging Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources in Academia and Beyond,” Daniel Credeur, associate teaching professor of Nutrition & Exercise Physiology. - Jan. 25, 2024
“The Strength of Partnerships: How farmers impact short- and long-term investments into research,” Gary Wheeler, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director for Missouri Soybean Association, Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council and Foundation for Soy Innovation.
- Dec. 14, 2023
“Unveiling the Fifth National Climate Assessment,” Jeffrey D. Wood, School of Natural Resources. - August 28, 2023
“Establishing a Digital Agriculture Research and Extension Center (DAREC) in CAFNR,” Jianfeng Zhou, Ken Sudduth and Tim Reinbott. - April 20, 2023
“Using cryo-electron microscopy to study protein quality control in disease,” Stephanie Gates, assistant professor, Biochemistry. - April 6, 2023
“Natural variation of lignin metabolism in poplar,” Jaime Barros Rios, postdoctoral fellow, Plant Science and Technology. - March 23, 2023
“From Anecdote to Evidence: A look into governance practices of agricultural cooperatives, Keri Jacobs. - March 9, 2023
“Lab-to-Market Programs at the National Science Foundation”, Brad Schrag, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program Director and Policy Liaison. - February 9, 2023
“Broaden the Application of Phytochemicals in Food and Pharmaceutical Areas“, Zipei Zhang, assistant professor, Division of Food, Nutrition & Exercise.
- April 28, 2022
Development and implementation of a customized and culturally-sensitive FSMA supplemental training program for Hmong farmers (Zoom recording)
Pei Liu, assistant professor, Division of Applied Social Sciences - April 21, 2022
Why regenerative agriculture is a hot topic attracting the interest of both farmers and major companies (Zoom recording)
Rob Myers, director, Center for Regenerative Agriculture and NCR-SARE regional director of Extension Programs
Kelly Wilson, assistant director, Center for Regenerative Agriculture - April 7, 2022
Dietary and exercise influences on cardiometabolic health and host-microbiome interactions (Zoom recording)
Jaapna Dhillon, assistant professor, Division of Food, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences - March 24, 2022
The Role of Unconventional T Cells in Influenza Immunity: A Pig Perspective (Zoom recording)
John Driver, associate professor, Division of Animal Science - March 17, 2022
Mississippi Water Machine: Sustainability Challenges in a Changing Environment (Zoom recording)
Noel Aloysius, assistant professor, jointly in the Department of Biomedical, Biological and Chemical Engineering, and the School of Natural Resources. - March 10, 2022
Multi-State Projects: What, Why and for Whom (Zoom recording)
Christina Hamilton, NCRA Assistant Director, and Jeff Jacobsen, NCRA Executive Director - Feb. 24, 2022
Water Center Update (Zoom recording)
Baolin Deng, professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Damon Hall, assistant professor, SNR & Biomedical Biological and Chemical Engineering - Feb. 10, 2022
CGIAR International Centers: Research for a Food-Secure Future (Zoom recording)
Nicoline de Haan, International Livestock Research Institute
- Dec. 16, 2021
Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) Restructuring Update (Zoom recording)
Shibu Jose, associate dean, Office of Research - Dec. 13, 2021
Assessing a Client’s Investment Risk Tolerance: Research using a Propensity Measure (Zoom recording)
Abed Rabbani, assistant professor, Division of Applied Social Sciences - Dec. 2, 2021
Acylsugars as a model system to explore the evolution of plant chemical diversity (Zoom recording)
Craig Schenck, assistant professor, Division of Biochemistry - Nov. 11, 2021
Soil Health in Missouri and Beyond (Zoom recording)
Jordon Wade, assistant professor, School of Natural Resources - Nov. 4, 2021
Validation of the baking process as a kill-step for controlling Salmonella (Zoom recording)
Kantha Channaiah, assistant professor and state Extension specialist (food processing and safety) in the Division of Food, Nutrition & Exercise Sciences - April 15, 2021
NSF-BIO Division of Integrative Organismal Systems: Proposals and Priorities (Zoom recording)
Michael Mishkind and Patrick (Douglas K) Abbot, NSF-IOS Program Directors - March 17, 2021
DOE Office of Science Funding Opportunities: An Overview from BER and BES (Zoom recording)
Gail Mclean, program manager in the Office of Basic Energy Sciences – BES and Cathy Ronning, program manager in the Office of Biological and Environmental Research – BER. - Feb. 18, 2021
Funding Opportunities for CAFNR Faculty in International Research and Scholarship (Zoom recording)
Kerry Clark, director, CAFNR International Programs
- Dec. 17, 2020
Food Innovation Technologies to Address Hidden Hunger (Zoom recording)
Kiruba Krishnaswamy, Food Science and Biomedical, Biological and Chemical Engineering - Nov. 12, 2020
Contemporary Issues in Environmental and Natural Resources Law (Zoom recording, must log in with Mizzou credentials)
Robin Rotman, School of Natural Resources - Oct. 22, 2020
Use of Livestock Models Under the Genome Editing Era (Zoom recording)
Kiho Lee, Animal Sciences - Oct. 1, 2020
Exploring Fairness in Agricultural Markets through Poultry and Dicamba (Zoom recording)
Mary Hendrickson, Division of Applied Social Sciences - Sept. 17, 2020
NIFA’s Transformation and Science Direction (Zoom recording)
Parag Chitnis, Acting Director, USDA NIFA - May 13, 2020
Mental Health Challenges Related to COVID-19 (Zoom recording)
Kimberly Brandt, DO, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, MU School of Medicine
Transcript (Word) - May 6, 2020
Domestic Pigs as Translational “Bridge” Models (Zoom recording)
Bhanu P. Telugu, University of Maryland, College Park, MD - April 29, 2020
Using Models as a Tool to Predict and Prevent the Spread of Disease Epidemics (Zoom recording)
Samniqueka Halsey, School of Natural Resources - April 22, 2020
Patterns of Pandemics in Rural Missouri: From 1918 flu to COVID-19 (Zoom recording)
Carolyn Orbann, Department of Health Sciences, School of Health Professions, MU
Transcript (Word) - April 15, 2020
Role of Agroforestry During a Global Health Crisis: Supporting Regional Food Security and Human Health (Zoom recording)
Sarah Lovell, School of Natural Resources and the Center for Agroforestry - April 8, 2020
Utilizing Gene Editing to Create Coronavirus Resistant Pigs
Kristin Whitworth, Division of Animal Sciences and National Swine Resource and Research Center - April 1, 2020
COVID-19 Missouri Economic Indicators Update (Zoom recording)
Alan Spell, Division of Applied Social Sciences