Stories
Dec. 16, 2020
CAFNR Office of Research Recognizes Drivers of Distinction
The CAFNR Office of Research recently recognized 10 faculty members as Drivers of Distinction. The honor was given to the faculty members, listed below, who had the highest total shared credit research expenditures over the past 10 years (2011-20). David Diamond – director, Missouri Resource Assessment Partnership (School of Natural Resources) Felix Fritschi – C. Alice Donaldson Professor in Bioenergy Crop Physiology and Genetics (Division of Plant Sciences) Shibu Jose – associate dean, CAFNR Office of Research; professor (School of Natural Resources) Henry Nguyen – professor (Division of Plant Sciences) Craig Paukert – cooperative professor (School of Natural Resources) Randy…
Dec. 14, 2020
Seth Meyer Named USDA Chief Economist
Seth Meyer, associate director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) and research professor, Division of Applied Social Sciences (DASS), has been named the USDA’s Chief Economist. Meyer plans to take an extended research leave from DASS to serve in this new role, which he will begin in January 2021. The Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) is the focal point for economic and policy-related research and analysis for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. OCE aims to inform public and private decision makers by providing unbiased information and data-driven analyses of current and emerging issues impacting agriculture, according…
Dec. 14, 2020
Working to Benefit Society
Pavel Somavat spent four years teaching electrical engineering at CCS Haryana Agricultural University, a land-grant university located in India. Somavat enjoyed the underlying philosophy and offerings of the land-grant system – and when he had an opportunity to take a faculty position at one of the two land-grant universities in Missouri, he jumped at the chance. Somavat joined the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) Division of Food Systems and Bioengineering (FSB) this year as an assistant professor of food science/biomedical, biological and chemical engineering. Somavat taught courses in food science and researched natural food…
Dec. 14, 2020
A Strategic Change
It was just a few years after Leon Schumacher joined the University of Missouri that the agricultural mechanization program changed its name to Agricultural Systems Management (ASM). The program, located in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Division of Food Systems and Bioengineering (FSB), updated its name in the early 1990s to reflect the changing teaching focus, as well as the ever-changing technology. Now, nearly 30 years later, the program is updating its name once again to reflect new strategic priorities. The new name change, which went into effect in October, is from ASM to Agricultural Systems…
Dec. 11, 2020
Q&A With Laura Friedrich
What are your job duties/job responsibilities in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources? I am a student services coordinator — so I always say my job is to help students (and families) get from where they are today to graduation. Whether that’s advising students, helping them change their major, declaring a minor, withdrawing from classes, or reviewing and submitting graduation plans. I’m also the lucky person who gets to read names at graduation. A more fun part is officially awarding the degrees to graduates in the college based on their submitted grad plans. How long have you worked…
Dec. 10, 2020
Harold Chapman Receives Mumford Award for Distinguished Service as Part of 2020 Celebration of Excellence
Harold Chapman, general manager for eight Missouri locations of Crown Power and Equipment, received the Frederick B. Mumford Award for Distinguished Service as part of CAFNR’s 2020 Celebration of Excellence. Chapman received his Bachelor of Sciences degree in Agricultural Mechanization from the University of Missouri in 1985. Chapman worked with John Poehlmann, now-retired assistant director, Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station, to help design an equipment lease program with CASE IH equipment that has transformed CAFNR’s Ag Experiment Station with its network of research centers across the state. Since the program’s inception in 2011, more than $9 million of farm equipment has…
Dec. 10, 2020
Q&A With Kaija Caldwell
Why did you decide to come to the University of Missouri and major in animal sciences? What do you enjoy about the program itself? The field of study? I decided to come to Mizzou because it was far enough from home that I could create a new, unique chapter of my life but close enough that I could get there quickly if something were to arise and I needed to be home. After touring the Animal Science Research Center and hearing how much hands-on experience I would obtain working with animals in my classes, I knew this was the place…
Dec. 7, 2020
After the Deluge
Historic flooding along the Missouri River in 2019 has left many still repairing damage this fall. Jim Crawford and his team repairing damage in fall 2020 from flooding that occurred in spring 2019. Cold, snowy weather in early 2019 set the stage for significant flooding in northwestern Missouri as spring approached, said University of Missouri Extension state climatologist Pat Guinan. “The flooding got off to an early start in mid-March when an unusually strong and moisture-laden late spring-like storm system dropped 1-4 inches of precipitation—mostly rainfall—over a two-day period across southeastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, northwestern Iowa and much of…
Dec. 7, 2020
Three IPG Faculty Listed Among 2020 Highly Cited Researchers
Ron Mittler, professor of plant sciences; Bing Yang, professor of plant sciences; and Shuqun Zhang, professor of biochemistry, all part of the Interdisciplinary Plant Group (IPG) at the University of Missouri have been recognized by the Web of Science list of Highly Cited Researchers for 2020. This list recognizes world-class researchers selected for their exceptional research performance, demonstrated by production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1 percent by citations for field and year.
Dec. 7, 2020
Yanu Prasetyo Received Outstanding Student Contribution Award from MU Council on International Initiatives
Yanu Prasetyo, PhD student in the Division of Applied Social Sciences, recently received an Outstanding Student Contribution Award as part of the 2020 MU International Engagement Awards. These recognize the meaningful and outstanding international work carried out by faculty, staff and students. This work can be carried out on campus or brought back from engagement abroad. A sampling of his international work includes publishing two research articles in international scientific journals related to his dissertation on the impact of Walmart closures in rural Missouri, leadership involvement with the Deaton Scholars Program and supporting MU African Interdisciplinary Studies Hub (Africa Hub).