Accolades

Ben Brown portrait

April 17, 2025

Ben Brown honored with 2025 J.W. Burch State Specialist Agricultural Extension Award

Ben Brown, senior research associate and extension specialist, Division of Applied Social Sciences, has received the 2025 J.W. Burch State Specialist Agricultural Extension Award. Brown was honored at CAFNR's annual awards ceremony, Celebration of Excellence, on Thursday, April 17.
Andrew Clarke

April 17, 2025

Andrew Clarke receives 2025 Brady J. Deaton Fellow in International Agriculture Award 

Andrew Clarke, associate professor of food science, has been selected for CAFNR’s 2025 Brady J. Deaton Fellow in International Agriculture Award. He was honored at CAFNR's annual awards ceremony, Celebration of Excellence, on Thursday, April 17.
Michelle Li smiling.

April 17, 2025

Michelle Li receives 2025 Outstanding Staff Award

Michelle Li, business support specialsit in the Division of Plant Science and Technology, has been selected for CAFNR’s 2025 Outstanding Staff Award. She was honored at CAFNR's annual awards ceremony, Celebration of Excellence, on Thursday, April 17.
A man with dark hair, brown eyes, and black-rimmed glasses in a black t-shirt with a Mizzou athletic tiger emblem on it stands in front of a public art sculpture in the bond Life Sciences building. He is smiling and leaning on a railing

April 17, 2025

David Mendoza-Cozatl receives the Roger L. Mitchell Fellow Award as part of 2025 Celebration of Excellence

David Mendoza-Cozatl, associate professor in the Division of Plant Science and Technology, is the recipient of CAFNR’s 2025 Roger L. Mitchell Fellow Award.    Mendoza-Cozatl is a world-leading expert in plant metal nutrient acquisition and detoxification, with a focus on enhancing food security through biofortification. He has secured nearly $8 million in federal funding and leads numerous collaborative research projects across institutions, including international partnerships in South Africa.   David Mendoza-Cozatl Mendoza-Cozatl has published 54 peer-reviewed papers, holds an h-index of 29, and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, such as the NSF CAREER Award, PEW Innovation Fund Investigator and MU…
Riley Sullivan receives award

April 17, 2025

Riley M. Sullivan has received the 2025 CAFNR William R. Lamberson Distinguished Thesis Award as part of Celebration of Excellence

Riley M. Sullivan has received the 2025 CAFNR William R. Lamberson Distinguished Thesis Award for her groundbreaking research on maternal recognition of pregnancy in pigs. She received her M.S. in Reproductive Physiology in 2024.   Riley Sullivan Her thesis, “Functional Analysis of Pregnancy in the Pig: The Two Essential Conceptus Maternal Recognition Signals for Preventing Luteolysis,” redefines a 50-year-old model by demonstrating the essential and combined role of conceptus-derived estrogen and prostaglandins in maintaining pregnancy.  Under the mentorship of Rodney Geisert, professor emeritus in the Division of Animal Sciences, Sullivan used advanced CRISPR gene-editing to develop a triple knockout model targeting…
A light-skinned woman with long, dark hair smiles in front of a stone wall. She is wearing a black button-up shirt.

April 17, 2025

Samantha Carter receives the 2025 CAFNR William R. Lamberson Distinguished Dissertation Award as part of Celebration of Excellence

Samantha Carter received the 2025 CAFNR William R. Lamberson Distinguished Dissertation Award for her dissertation, “Natural Resource Justice as an Anticolonial Practice: Policies of Sovereignty.” Carter earned her Ph.D. in Natural Resources in summer 2024 and now serves as a postdoctoral scholar at Northwestern University.  Samantha Carter Her research explores Indigenous rights and natural resource law through an anticolonial lens, blending legal and social science methods. Her dissertation includes three manuscripts: one analyzing mining jurisdiction post-McGirt v. Oklahoma (Montana Law Review), another examining cannabis regulation in Indian Country (Mercer Law Review) and a third comparing Indigenous resource governance in New…
Portrait of Abe Koo

April 17, 2025

Abraham (Abe) Koo receives CAFNR’s 2025 Outstanding Mid-Career Research Award as part of Celebration of Excellence

Koo is a leading plant biochemist known for his groundbreaking research on jasmonic acid (JA), a key hormone in plant defense and stress response.
Morgan Davis

April 17, 2025

Morgan Davis receives Outstanding Early Investigator Research Award as part of Celebration of Excellence

At Mizzou since 2020, Davis is a standout early-career researcher with a rapidly growing national reputation. His interdisciplinary work focuses on soil greenhouse gas emissions, soil health, cover crops and sustainable agriculture practices.
Hendrickson smiling.

April 17, 2025

Mary Hendrickson receives the Distinguished Research Award as part of 2025 Celebration of Excellence

Mary Hendrickson, professor in the Division of Applied Social Sciences, has been presented with the CAFNR Distinguished Research Award for her internationally recognized scholarship on food systems. Her research addresses corporate concentration in agriculture, local and alternative food systems and the pursuit of resilient, equitable food networks. A prolific scholar, she has over 70 publications, more than 3,000 citations and has secured over $20 million in research funding as PI or Co-PI. Mary Hendrickson Hendrickson’s interdisciplinary work bridges sociology, economics, ecology and law, with findings cited globally, including in United Nations reports. She has presented across five continents, testified before…
Students posing in a group.

March 31, 2025

Plant sciences students see success at National Collegiate Landscape Competition

The University of Missouri Collegiate Landscaping Team received 15th place out of 54 schools attending the National Collegiate Landscape Competition at Colorado State University, March 19-22.