Stories

July 7, 2020
Chung-Ho Lin Receives 2020 President’s Award for Economic Development
Chung-Ho Lin, associate research professor in the School of Natural Resources, received the 2020 President’s Award for Economic Development from the UM System. This award recognizes faculty for distinguished activity in meeting the University of Missouri’s goal of serving as an economic engine for the state and its citizens. Awardees demonstrate entrepreneurial innovation in using the classroom, outreach programs or the laboratory as vehicles for increasing or developing new economic activity in the state. Lin’s primary research involves the use of plants, microbes and engineered enzymes for bioremediation, ecological restoration and development of bioeconomy. He is the lead scientist…

July 7, 2020
Thomas Spencer Receives 2020 President’s Award for Sustained Career Excellence
Thomas Spencer, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Animal Sciences, received the 2020 President’s Award for Sustained Career Excellence from the UM System. This award recognizes faculty for distinguished career-long, sustained excellence in scholarship, research or creativity, for a period of 15 or more years. Spencer, who is also associate vice chancellor for research (emphasis in STEM disciplines), joined the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) in 2015, and was a signature hire as part of the Mizzou Advantage program. He is an internationally recognized and respected leader in the fields of reproductive and developmental biology.

June 30, 2020
Deserved Recognition
While the in-person version of the 2020 National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) Student Marketing Competition and Conference was cancelled, several members of the Mizzou NAMA team still earned awards and scholarships via an online version in late spring. The Mizzou NAMA team was one of six teams to win recognition for its written executive summary for the Student Executive Summary Competition. Within that competition, students develop a business proposition with a service description that includes a strategy statement, as well as goals, objectives and assumptions. The team conducts a market analysis, while looking at trends and potential. They also put…

June 23, 2020
MU Faculty Part of Gene Editing Task Force
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) recently announced an 11-person Gene Editing Task Force, which includes two individuals from the University of Missouri: Bhanu Telugu (associate professor) and Londa Nwadike (food safety state specialist, MU Extension). The 11-person task force is comprised of scientists and industry leaders who will map out recommendations for regulating this emerging genomic technology in animal agriculture with appropriate safeguards and procedures.

June 22, 2020
An Extraordinary Honor
For more than 30 years, the University of Missouri System and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in Cape Town, South Africa, have been collaborating through the University of Missouri South African Education Program (UMSAEP). The focus of the partnership is to advance mutual understanding between the institutions’ faculties and foster cooperative research, teaching and service projects – and for decades UMSAEP has delivered on the goal of aiding South Africans disadvantaged by their government’s former apartheid policies. Researchers in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) have played an important role in the partnership, including…

June 22, 2020
An Entrepreneurial Spirit
When Kamal Yadav came to the United States from India in 1961, he had never seen snow before. Working toward his master’s degree in biochemistry at the University of Missouri, Yadav stepped out of his apartment early one snowy morning during his first semester and didn’t make it very far before slipping and hurting his back. The injury forced Yadav to miss several classes, which caught the eye of his PhD advisor George B. Garner. Garner found where Yadav lived and went there right away to check on him. Yadav appreciated his advisor’s visit – and was shocked when Garner…

June 22, 2020
An Outstanding Recognition
Each year, the Mizzou Alumni Association Student Board selects 39 outstanding seniors for its annual Mizzou ‘39 Award. Mizzou ‘39 recipients are chosen for their academic achievement, leadership and service to Mizzou and the community. In the spirit of service that was the cornerstone of the 1839 founding of the University of Missouri, the award is presented each spring. This year, the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources had four students receive the Mizzou ‘39 Award, two within the Department of Biochemistry – Devesh Kumar and Michaela Thomson. Devesh Kumar As a Columbia native, Kumar knew all that…

June 15, 2020
Matthew Lucy Receives ADSA Award of Honor
The American Dairy Science Association® (ADSA®), the international organization of educators, scientists and industry representatives who are committed to advancing the dairy industry, recently announced the winners of professional and student awards for 2020. Matthew Lucy, professor in the Division of Animal Sciences, received the ADSA Award of Honor. The award recognizes unusually outstanding and consistent contributions to the welfare of the Association or distinguished service to the Association. The award is primarily for services to the American Dairy Science Association.

June 11, 2020
Q&A With Teresa Davis
What are your job duties/job responsibilities in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources? My role is to support Christopher Daubert, CAFNR’s Vice Chancellor and Dean, and work collaboratively in a professional and friendly way with internal and external constituents to assist the dean and our college in furthering the mission and vision of CAFNR’s strategic plan “Drive to Distinction.” There is never a dull moment! How long have you worked in CAFNR (and at MU)? I began working at Mizzou in 1997 in the College of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction. I moved to the Office of…

June 8, 2020
An Educational Experience
For 14 straight years, Robert Sites has led University of Missouri students to Thailand for an educational study abroad experience focused on biodiversity and conservation. The 3-week program, which takes place over winter break, coincides with Thailand’s dry season – the best time of the year to be in the country for biodiversity and conservation projects. When Sites, a professor of entomology in the Division of Plant Sciences, joined the Thailand Study Abroad program in 2001, it was tough for him to imagine the experience turning into what it would eventually become. “I got involved with the CAFNR Thailand study…