Interdisciplinary Plant Group ⋅ Page 1

New Growth

David Braun named director of IPG

David Braun, professor of plant science and technology at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), has been named director of the Interdisciplinary Plant Group (IPG), effective Feb. 1, 2022. “I am humbled and excited to lead this incredibly talented group of creative and world-class plant biologists,” Braun said. “The IPG is part of my…

Root Biology Never Sleeps

Two triennial events recently offered the root research community a closer look at projects from around the globe

Two triennial events, the 11th Symposium of the International Society of Root Research (ISRR11) and the ninth International Symposium on Root Development (Rooting2021), offered the root research community a closer look at projects from around the globe. In 2021, more than 700 participants from 52 countries had the opportunity to virtually attend both events as a joint venture. The two…

An Extraordinary Honor

Three IPG researchers earn Extraordinary Professor distinction from University of the Western Cape, South Africa

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…

A Prestigious Honor

Bob Sharp named Curators' Distinguished Professor

Bob Sharp recently joined a prestigious group of University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources faculty as a Curators’ Distinguished Professor, MU’s highest and most prestigious rank. Sharp is a professor in the Division of Plant Sciences and serves as the director of the campus-wide Interdisciplinary Plant Group (IPG). “I am greatly honored to receive this recognition,”…

A Culture of Collaboration

World-renowned interdisciplinary plant biology research at Mizzou gets a big boost from new $28.2 million plant growth facility

For nearly 150 years, scientists from the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri have contributed to advancements around the globe. Many have heard the story of Charles Valentine Riley, an MU professor and Missouri’s first state entomologist, who saved the French wine industry from decimation by an insect, the grape phylloxera. The aphid had…

Starting Off the Series

CAFNR graduate students help kick off DuPont Pioneer Symposium series in early February

For several years, the student-run DuPont Plant Sciences Symposia series has been going strong at universities across the United States and even the world — which is why Tim Beissinger was slightly shocked to find out that the University of Missouri was not part of it when he arrived on campus in September 2015 as an adjunct assistant professor in the Division…

On Call for the Drought

CAFNR experts work to alleviate drought effects, help farmers prepare for next season

The drought and its effects on agriculture have been at the forefront of public discussion this season. In July, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack declared all of Missouri’s 114 counties primary natural disaster areas. Some parts of the state have experienced the hottest temperatures and driest conditions in the last 118 years. While temperatures have cooled and parts of the…

New IPG Director

Bob Sharp named director of Mizzou's Interdisciplinary Plant Group

Robert Sharp, professor of plant science at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, was recently named director of the MU Interdisciplinary Plant Group.