As we begin the spring semester, we are excited to welcome the new faculty members in our college who have joined us. The College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri is proud to introduce four new faculty members this spring who are ready to advance our core missions of research, teaching and Extension. They each bring expertise in their chosen fields of training, and represent three of our six divisions: Animal Sciences; Applied Social Sciences; and Plant Science & Technology. We are pleased to showcase the newest members of our college:
Chandra Boosani
Assistant Research Professor, Division of Animal Sciences
Boosani is an assistant research professor in the Division of Animal Sciences’ National Institute of Health (NIH) Swine Somatic Cell and Gene Editing Center. He also holds a joint appointment at University Hospital. He is currently working on gene editing in swine models. Before coming to Mizzou, he was an assistant research professor in the Department of Clinical and Translational Science at Creighton University’s School of Medicine. Boosani is board-certified by The American Society for Clinical Pathology as a Medical Laboratory Scientist specializing in Clinical Hematology and Molecular Biology. He worked on addressing complications in vascular disorders through gene therapy and has published more than 40 research articles, which includes original research articles, review articles and book chapters. Boosani earned his PhD from the University of Hyderabad in India. Currently, he is serving as the volume editor for an upcoming book “Epigenetics in organ specific disorders” from Elsevier Publications, which is scheduled for release in May 2022. Boosani can be reached at csb5dv@missouri.edu.
John Driver
Associate Professor, Division of Animal Sciences
Driver joins CAFNR as an associate professor in the Division of Animal Sciences. Since 2012, he has served as an assistant (2012-19) and associate professor (2019-21) of immunology at the University of Florida. While at Florida, he also served as the director of the Animal Molecular and Cellular Biology graduate program. His research examines two distinct areas: The immune system of pigs with a focus on the contribution of innate T-cells to immunity against influenza viruses and other pathogens that are important for both swine and human health; and diabetes research specifically searching to uncover the genetic causes of autoimmune diabetes. Driver earned his PhD from the University of Georgia. Upon completing his PhD, he was awarded a Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship to study the genetics of Type-1 diabetes at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. Driver can be reached at driverjp@missouri.edu.
Ryan Milhollin
Assistant Extension Professor, Division of Applied Social Sciences
Milhollin is an assistant Extension professor in the Division of Applied Social Sciences (DASS) and a state specialist in agricultural business and policy. He has been with Mizzou since 2002. His expertise is in business planning and management, finance, risk management and value chains. He has conducted feasibility studies and other work for stakeholders in the biofuel, livestock and crop industries through a number of grants he’s received as the principal investigator through the Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority. He has also helped author a series of Extension publications on farm budget planning for producers to use in their operations. He received the J.W. Burch State Specialist Agricultural Extension Award in 2017 as part of CAFNR’s Celebration of Excellence. Milhollin holds an MBA from Columbia College. Milhollin can be reached at milhollinr@missouri.edu.
Bradley Wilson
Assistant Research Professor, Division of Plant Science & Technology
Wilson joins CAFNR as an assistant research professor located at the Fisher Delta Research, Extension and Education Center in Portageville, Mo. In this role, he will focus on developing, funding and conducting field experiments that improve cotton production practices in southeast Missouri. Wilson earned his PhD in crop science from Oklahoma State University. As a doctoral student, some of his responsibilities included leading field data collection and analysis of a number of collaborative projects with Texas A&M AgriLife Research, as well as evaluating cover crop species and termination timing for dryland cotton production, drip irrigation management in the panhandle and southwestern regions of Oklahoma, and statewide on-farm variety trials. He has authored a number of peer-reviewed and Extension publications surrounding cotton harvest, leaf shape and fertilizer uptake. Wilson can be reached at brwccx@umsystem.edu.