Stories

A group of students posing.

April 17, 2025

The University of Missouri Financial Planning Association (MU FPA) receives Outstanding Student Organization as part of 2025 Celebration of Excellence

CAFNR's annual awards ceremony was held Thursday, April 17.
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…
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 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…
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…
Six women pose for a photos with a plaque.

April 14, 2025

Mizzou National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) wins 1st place at national competition

The Mizzou NAMA team received first place in the student marketing competition at the 2024 Agri-Marketing Conference held in Kansas City, April 9-11.
fountains at a park

April 10, 2025

A walk in the park? Research takes a deeper look at urban green spaces

Nilon’s work focuses on understanding how plants and animals use urban spaces and how people connect with those ecosystems.
Jeri Lou and daughter on a trip

April 9, 2025

Get to know Jeri Lou Zimmerman

Jeri Lou Zimmerman What are your job duties/job responsibilities in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources? I am the Director of CAFNR Grants. Our office handles the pre-award side of sponsored grants and contracts for all of CAFNR and the College of Business through a MOU which is mostly done by the Grant Writers in our office. I do help out with proposals as needed which it has been recently as we have an open position. My proposal specialties are USDA, commodity groups, and foundations. I leave the big NIH, NSF, DOE, and DOD for Angie Hake and…