Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Department of Soil and Crop Sciences

Department announces awards during annual meeting

Ambika Chandra, Ph.D. (center) with her award. Standing with Chandra is B.B Singh, Ph.D. (left) and David Baltensperger, Ph.D., professor and department head.

Ambika Chandra, Ph.D. (center) receiving the B.B. Singh Award for Outstanding Research in Crop Sciences. Standing with Chandra is B.B Singh, Ph.D. (left) and David Baltensperger, Ph.D., professor and department head.

Congratulations to all our faculty, staff and students who received awards during the Soil and Crop Sciences’ annual meeting held on January 14 in College Station.

The department recognized the retirement of Dr. Jaroy Moore, Director, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Lubbock. Moore has been with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service for 53 years. He served as the station leader in Pecos in 1977, then became resident director in El Paso in 1995 before he became the director in Lubbock in 1998.

Fifteen faculty, staff, and students were also recognized and presented with the following awards:

Special Award

B.B. Singh Award for Outstanding Research in Crop Sciences: Ambika Chandra, Ph.D.

Administrative

Administrative Support: Alisa Hairston

Extension Awards

Extension Faculty Award: Scott Nolte, Ph.D.

Collaborating County Extension Agent: Shane McLellan, Ph.D.

Technical/Extension Staff Support: – Field Support: Kyle Turner

Special Service/Recognition: Texas Wheat Producers Board and Association, Amarillo, TX
Rodney Mosier, Executive Vice President and Ms. Steelee Fischbacher, Director of Policy

Research Awards

Research Faculty: Paul DeLaune, Ph.D

Graduate Student Research – Agronomy: Chengsong Hu

Graduate Student Research – Plant Breeding: Zhen Wang

Graduate Student Research – Soil Science: Harrison Cocker

Research Support – Field Support: Dale Mott

Research Support – Lab Support: Chantel Scheuring

Technical Staff Support: Vicki Gergeni

Postdoctoral Research: Heng-An Lin, Ph.D.

Teaching Awards

Teaching – Faculty: William (Bill) Rooney, Ph.D.

Graduate Student Teaching: Andrew Osburn

Redmon, Adak Receive Vice Chancellor’s Awards in Excellence

Congratulations to Larry Redmon, Ph.D. and Ph.D student Alper Adak who received Vice Chancellor Awards in Excellence this year. These awards recognize the commitment and outstanding contributions displayed by faculty, students and staff members across Texas A&M AgriLife.

Extension Education Awards

The Extension Specialist or Program Specialist Award was presented to Larry Redmon, Ph.D., professor and associate department head and AgriLife Extension program leader. Redmon’s educational presentations and seminars bring participants into the conversation, along with his expertise and ability to entertain audiences. The Ranch Management University, which draws participants from around the world, is one example. Evaluations have proven the annual event is highly effective in helping people adopt ranch management practices and land stewardship with an economic impact of $84 million. Redmon also spearheads the Bennett Trust programs. One of these programs caters specifically to women, providing them with the knowledge needed to make land stewardship and natural resource management decisions. Many attendees are new landowners and have little knowledge of where to begin with land ownership.

Research Awards

The Graduate Student Research Award recipient was Alper Adak, a doctoral student in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. Since enrolling in his doctoral program in 2018, Adak has been the primary author of four peer-reviewed research articles, greatly exceeding the standard for students in his department. He has given invited talks at international conferences and been sought out as a peer reviewer for publications in his field. One of his accomplishments was to conceive of and create a way to utilize unmanned aircraft systems data from the corn breeding and quantitative genetics program to predict yield and flowering times. However, his primary project is to identify genes responsible for the late flowering of Texas A&M AgriLife germplasm in northern climates. His poster on that work won first prize in the largest division at the Crop Science Society International Meeting in 2019.

A full list of awards was announced in AgriLife Today.

Charles Simpson honored for lifetime dedication to peanuts

Story by Kay Ledbetter

For 54 years, Charles Simpson, Ph.D., has been making a difference in the peanut products America eats – and on July 1, he was honored by the American Peanut Council with the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award at the USA Peanut Congress in New Orleans.

Simpson, peanut germplasm explorer and breeder for Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Stephenville, was recognized “for his tireless efforts in peanut germplasm collection and preservation.”

Charles Simpson

Charles Simpson, peanut germplasm explorer, breeder and Texas A&M AgriLife Research emeritus (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

Simpson, a professor emeritus in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Soil and Crop Sciences plant breeding program, retired in 2003 but still maintains an extensive germplasm collection at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Stephenville.

“This award is the most prestigious honor in the industry,” said Shelly Nutt, executive director and leadership in the Texas Peanut Producers Board, who nominated Simpson. “Dr. Simpson has been recognized internationally for his efforts in collection preservation, maintenance, distribution and use of wild and exotic germplasm.

“Still today, he remains one of the leading experts in wild species peanuts and his accomplishments have opened the possibility of using the vast reservoir of genes in wild peanuts to improve cultivated peanuts,” Nutt said in her nomination.

Simpson still diligently “volunteers” daily at the greenhouses to preserve and utilize the peanut collection, mentor colleagues and students, and provide expert advice to industry partners, said Bill McCutchen, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife center director at Stephenville.

“Dr. Simpson is a treasure of knowledge for the industry and very deserving of this award,” McCutchen said. “Even almost 20 years after his retirement, he actively remains involved in maintaining the collection here, making him the foremost authority in the U.S. with respect to collection, evaluation and preservation of genetic resources of peanuts.”

The Texas Peanut Producers board has pledged funds to the Charles Simpson Endowment for the AgriLife Research peanut collection, one of the largest, most diverse collections worldwide, and can no longer be replicated, McCutchen said.

A lifetime dedicated to peanuts

Simpson has spent over 50 years serving the peanut industry as a breeder, successfully transferring at minimum seven different disease resistances as well as high oil content into over 23 cultivars and an additional seven germplasm releases.

One of his major accomplishments over his long career occurred when his program released the first root-knot nematode-resistant peanut cultivar created from a wild species peanut introgression. He introduced resistance genes from wild species collected in east-central Bolivia in 1980 to address root-knot nematode, a serious threat to peanut production in parts of Texas.

He released COAN, the first root-knot resistant peanut cultivar in the world, as well as Webb, the first high oleic nematode-resistant peanut released by the AgriLife Research program. The gene introgression for nematode resistance was made from a complex hybrid involving three wild species peanuts.

But Simpson might be most renowned in peanut breeding circles for his lifelong passion for collecting and preserving wild and cultivated Arachis germplasm. His extensive germplasm-gathering forays have included trips to Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

In 1980, Simpson assumed the role as co-leader of the Arachis – flowering plants in the pea family – germplasm project and traveled annually until 2004. His desire to collect and preserve the peanut species carried him to remote and inaccessible areas of South America on over 28 collection expeditions, his nomination stated.

His work was funded by the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources, a part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy. Through his collection trips, Simpson and his colleagues collected over 1,800 wild peanut accessions, over 5,500 cultivated landraces and over 500 Rhizomatous accessions.

Charles Simpson in greenhouse

Charles Simpson, Ph.D., stands among his collection in the greenhouse. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by John Cason)

Today, his research continues to influence. In a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant, Plant Breeding Partnerships: Genomics-Assisted Introgression and Molecular Dissection of Resistance to Pests and Diseases in Peanut, the breeding team will transfer novel wild species alleles from a population developed by Simpson into a set of back-crossed breeding lines sharing a common, popular genetic background. Each possesses a small segment of chromosomal DNA inherited from the wild species parents.

Sharing knowledge for future generations

Simpson has been author or co-author on 22 species descriptions and was a leader in translating the peanut monograph describing 69 of the 81 wild species into English. In addition, he was co-editor of subsequent supplemental publications with new species descriptions.

He also has authored or co-authored 133 refereed journal articles, 179 scientific presentations, 131 popular press articles and 19 book chapters.

“I am deeply grateful for this recognition of the work I have loved doing for the past 53 years,” Simpson said. “There are no plans on my part to stop doing the work to aid the younger generation in utilizing the valuable plant collection we have assembled. The collection will be the lifeblood of peanut improvement for many years into the future.”

Prominent researcher to lead Semi-Arid Agricultural Systems Institute

By: Chip Chandler

A regional native and nationally prominent researcher in plant breeding has been hired as the director of the Semi-Arid Agricultural Systems Institute at West Texas A&M University in Canyon.

Craig Bednarz, Ph.D., an Idalou native, began May 1 in a joint appointment by West Texas A&M, Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Amarillo and the Texas A&M University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.

Craig Bednarz

Craig Bednarz, Ph.D., will lead the Semi-Arid Agricultural Systems Institute at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, with join responsibilities to Texas A&M AgriLife Research-Amarillo. (Courtesy photo)

Bednarz will serve as an associate professor of plant, soil and environmental sciences at West Texas A&M. He will lead and expand the research, instruction and service programs of the institute, addressing issues facing semi-arid agriculture systems in the Texas Panhandle and surrounding area, said Lance Kieth, Ph.D., head of West Texas A&M’s Department of Agricultural Sciences.

The Semi-Arid Agricultural Systems Institute, formerly known as the Dryland Agriculture Institute, was led by Bob Stewart, Ph.D., until his retirement in 2017. Its mission is to assist researchers, educators, extension workers and administrators to develop practical and workable strategies for improving the sustainability of dryland agriculture systems worldwide.

“We knew that replacing Dr. Stewart would be a difficult task, so having Dr. Bednarz fill the void left by Dr. Stewart’s retirement has been a win-win for both WT and AgriLife Research,” Kieth said. “Like Dr. Stewart, Dr. Bednarz is a leader, and we expect him not only to lead research efforts, but also to build and lead a team of researchers and educators to tackle agriculture’s utilization of water resources in the Texas Panhandle and surrounding region.”

“I’m delighted to have someone with Craig’s horsepower on board with us,” said Brent Auvermann, Ph.D., center director of AgriLife Research at Amarillo. “He’s a worthy heir to Dr. Stewart’s legacy, and his program is going to fill an important niche in our region’s agricultural research portfolio. Also, Craig’s expertise in cotton is a tremendous bonus as the cotton patch expands northward.”

Bednarz is a nationally prominent researcher in crop physiology for row crop production systems, primarily cotton.

He is one of two hires who will work jointly under the Chancellor’s Research Initiative. Bednarz will lead a formal research program in water-resource management, water use in drought tolerance crops, limited-irrigation cropping systems, remote sensing technologies, and intensive cattle grazing systems for Panhandle agriculture and allied industries.

A focus on water scarcity and needs is a key component of “WT125: From the Panhandle to the World,” which is the title of West Texas A&M’s plan to become a regional research university.

“When I was younger and growing up in this area, we used to irrigate cotton from a ditch,” Bednarz said. “Back then, the well capacity was a lot higher. That’s all changed now. Water availability in the Ogallala Aquifer has been drying up, and that certainly is impacting the quality of life in this area.”

Bednarz said he wants to do whatever he can to ensure future generations can still utilize those water resources

“That’s in line with my scientific interests and, on a personal note, I have a tie to this region and to agriculture in this region, and I want to see it continue to grow and thrive,” he said.

Bednarz earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education and a master’s degree in crop science from Texas Tech University; he earned a doctorate in agronomy from the University of Arkansas. He has previously worked as a cotton breeder in private industry and as a cotton agronomist for Texas Tech, Mississippi State University and the University of Georgia.

McKnight begins AgriLife Extension statewide cotton specialist duties

By: Kay Ledbetter

Ben McKnight’s acceptance of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide cotton specialist position is a return to familiar territory. McKnight started April 1 in the Texas A&M University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at College Station.

Larry Redmon, Ph.D., associate department head and AgriLife Extension program leader for the department, said the Soil and Crop Sciences Extension Unit was excited to have McKnight fill the cotton specialist position in College Station.

Ben McKnight

Ben McKnight, Ph.D., is the new Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide cotton specialist. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)


“Ben is certainly no stranger to Texas having been born and raised in East Texas, or to Texas A&M as he obtained his master’s here in the Soil and Crop Sciences Department. We look forward to Ben developing a strong state-wide cotton program and presence.”
Experiences leading to cotton position

McKnight, Ph.D., worked for both Texas A&M AgriLife Research and AgriLife Extension while earning degrees at Texas A&M. He has spent the past few years working as a weed scientist with Louisiana State University, where he earned his doctorate.

During his postdoctoral research and as a research associate at LSU Agricultural Center, McKnight conducted rice field trials at research and grower locations. As a graduate research assistant, he worked in the Rice Weed Management Program conducting and managing field and glasshouse trials.

During his time with AgriLife Research, he assisted the Rice Weed Management research program with applying herbicide treatments, collecting and organizing data and harvesting research plots.

McKnight said his transition back to Texas and into cotton should be smooth because he is driven by solving problems as an agronomist.

“There are quite a few similarities between cotton and rice regarding the intensity of management,” he said. “Both require extensive management to produce a successful crop. I am looking forward to drawing from my past experiences working in rice management in this new position. Accepting this position is also a homecoming for me. As a Texas native, I am very familiar with the passion that our growers and industry have for cotton production.”
Arriving during a pandemic

McKnight said initially it will be a challenge to stay flexible during the COVID-19 pandemic to continue business as usual.

“However, our agency is employing innovative solutions in order to continue carrying out our mission during this unprecedented time,” he said. “We have some exceptional leadership and they’ve been in close contact throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with information as it evolves. I anticipate there will be an impact on upcoming grower meetings, field days and face-to-face meetings, but I am confident we will continue to provide the best outreach to our clientele.”

He said it appears producers are going about business as usual and crops are still being planted, and distributors, supply stores and other agriculture-related businesses are still open.

“One issue I expect producers to face this year is changes in commodity prices,” McKnight said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on our cotton markets, but I think it still might be too early to tell what kind of overall impact it is going to have on commodity prices.”
Planning for future cotton research

From a field research standpoint, the plan is to continue evaluating many different research topics of interest to cotton production in the state, he said.

“One of the most important roles in this position is variety testing and getting the results of variety evaluations into the hands of our growers,” McKnight said. “Our program will continue to be very active in variety evaluation so our growers will have the information they need for on-farm decision making.”

He said some of the applied research efforts of his team will involve evaluation of fertility programs across the state, control of volunteer cotton plants and stalk destruction, just to highlight a few. Several of these research topics will be collaborative efforts with many other researchers, AgriLife Extension specialists and county agents.

“Some of my longer-term research interests include evaluating how various management decisions translate into profitability for our growers,” McKnight said. “Unfortunately, the highest yield doesn’t always translate into the highest level of profitability, and profitability is what keeps our growers in business.

“I am very passionate about helping growers develop management practices that increase their profitability. Our agency has many outstanding agricultural economists. I look forward to working closely with them to identify what kind of region-specific management decisions can enhance grower profitability.”
Outreach and education

McKnight said the COVID-19 pandemic will immediately impact his initial plans for outreach and education programming.

“I was looking forward to personally meeting our stakeholders across the state soon after starting in this position,” he said. “As of right now, I’m not sure how that will be impacted. Technology will be instrumental to keeping everyone in close communication and business running the best it can in these trying times.”

He plans to make initial contacts with stakeholders and AgriLife Extension and research professionals across the state in the coming weeks. However, he said, it will have to be either via telephone or online-based video conference platforms.

Long-term outreach and educational programming include continuing to work with others to develop high-quality resources, outreach and educational programs that improve Texas agriculture.

“I really enjoy interacting with people, so my hope is things will begin to normalize soon,” McKnight said. “I’m looking forward to getting out in the state to meet our stakeholders and my new colleagues. I’m a very hands-on learner, and I believe that most people in agriculture are too. So, I look forward to participating in field days and grower meetings, in addition to working with others to develop hands-on training activities for our county agents, producers and clientele in the future.”

Trostle named statewide AgriLife Extension hemp specialist

By: Kay Ledbetter

Calvin Trostle, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agronomist, Lubbock, has recently been named the statewide hemp specialist for the agency.

“We’ve had a lot of excellent work being done by our AgriLife Extension Industrial Hemp Initiative team to prepare Texas for the production of industrial hemp,” said Dan Hale, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension associate director — agriculture and natural resources, College Station, in announcing the new position.
Calvin Trostle speaks to attendees of AgriLife event.

“Dr. Trostle has worked tirelessly in this area and has already been serving in a lead specialist capacity. He will do an excellent job in helping lead our Initiative team’s and agency-wide Extension and research activities.”

AgriLife Extension formed an Industrial Hemp Education Initiative Team to provide information concerning industrial hemp production in Texas after House Bill 1325 was signed into law by the Governor last June.

Calvin Trostle in field

AgriLife Extension agronomist Calvin Trostle, Ph.D., will serve as the agency’s statewide hemp expert.


While the U.S. Department of Agriculture was finalizing federal regulations and guidelines, along with the Texas Department of Agriculture writing of state regulations and guidelines and getting them approved by the USDA, Trostle was already at work.

The industrial hemp education team helped develop resources for agents and specialists to utilize across the state in producer and public education programs. Trostle led or participated in about 20 educational hemp seminars from Dumas to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. He also made trips to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado, where hemp is already legal to grow, in order to learn more about the crop.

Industrial hemp hasn’t been grown in Texas since the 1930s, when there was some hemp production in South Texas. So, there’s no track record of what varieties might work in Texas, and only this year will there be any research on industrial hemp, Trostle said.

Trostle said initial hemp field efforts will begin with implementing the Texas A&M AgriLife variety testing program for hemp. These hemp cannabinoid, fiber and grain trials are planned for Plainview, Commerce, San Angelo and College Station.

“We won’t be able to implement meaningful planting date studies until 2021,” he said. “Procuring funding for any field work will be key in how quickly we can address research questions.”

Another of Trostle’s initial objectives for Texas hemp is investigating and encouraging improved hemp seed quality.

“Apart from business issues, poor seed has been the No. 1 production issue in most states already growing hemp,” he said.

Trostle grew up on a farm and ranch in eastern Kansas. He earned his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Kansas State University, his master’s in soil chemistry from Texas A&M University and his doctorate in soil science from the University of Minnesota. He joined AgriLife Extension at Lubbock in 1999 after three summers in rice research at the Texas A&M AgriLife center in Beaumont.

The new title of statewide hemp specialist fits in with how has been known in West Texas – as the “alternative crops guy.” After serving in Lubbock for two years and learning more about the region’s farming, Trostle said he chose to pursue a broad working knowledge on many different crops rather than focus heavily on just one or two.

“I believe I made the right decision,” he said. “That approach has positioned me better to start from scratch with learning about hemp.”

He also is currently the state specialist for sunflowers, as well as provides education and applied research support in the South Plains region and across Texas for grain sorghum, sunflowers, peanuts, wheat/small grains, guar, alfalfa, winter canola, summer annual forages and sesame.

Trostle said while he knows this first year or two of hemp work will keep him busy, he will maintain his educational programs on all the crops he’s working with.

“I want farmers of grain sorghum, wheat, alfalfa, peanuts, guar and other crops to know that I remain fully committed to maintaining my Extension support to their cropping needs. I will have to reduce my field work in these crops, but the 21+ years of experience I have gained isn’t going anywhere.”

Trostle can be reached at 806-746-6101 or ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu. He has written a monthly hemp newsletter since November and has initiated an AgriLife Twitter account @TXAgriLifeHemp. Trostle also contributed to the AgriLife Extension hemp resources page, along with members of the hemp team.

AgriLife Extension hires new small grains specialist

By: Kay Ledbetter

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has hired Fernando Guillen, Ph.D., as the new statewide small grains and oilseed crops specialist in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University. He officially started March 1.

Fernando Guillen Portal

Fernando Guillen, Ph.D., is the new Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide small grains and oilseed crops specialist. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)


“Dr. Guillen brings a wealth of agronomic experience to AgriLife Extension’s small grains program, and we are excited to have him joining our department and extension unit,” said Larry Redmon, Ph.D., associate department head and AgriLife Extension program leader for the department.
Guillen brings experience
Coming to Texas from Bozeman, Montana, Guillen was a private consultant and a research associate at Montana State University. He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and his bachelor’s degree from the Juan Misael Saracho Bolivian University in Bolivia. He also was a postdoctoral research scientist at the Northwestern Agricultural Research Center for Montana State University, Kalispell, Montana.
His past research relates to the development and application of new ways to better understand relative changes in cultivar productivity as a result of varying growing conditions in a target region, also known as genotype-by-environment interactions.
Also, Guillen said he includes using innovative crop management protocols to increase crop productivity in his research. Examples would be the use of integrated pest management strategies for weed control and the use of micronutrients as yield enhancers in wheat.
Guillen’s plant breeding activities include developing varieties in corn and wheat, as well as grain amaranth and camelina crops. Most recently, he led the camelina breeding program at Sustainable Oils LLC for the development of superior cultivars to be used as a feedstock for biofuel production. He also worked with their wheat tilling research program at Targeted Growth Inc., which was aimed at identifying specific, proprietary mutation-altered genes with a positive impact in yield.
Guillen’s plans for Texas position
“I believe the Texas small grains specialist position is a strong match between the position’s objectives and my professional background,” Guillen said. “Even before applying for this position, I knew the small grains breeding program at Texas A&M was doing a superb job in the development of superior cultivars in small grains, mainly wheat, for the different wheat growing regions in Texas.
“From a genetic perspective, I was glad to see that the small grains breeding program is already implementing state-of-the-art strategies like the use of gene-editing tools with the ultimate goal of yield enhancement,” he said.
Guillen said it is well recognized that increases in crop productivity arise from the use of both superior genetics and the adoption of optimum crop management protocols for commercial production.
“Thus, my interest falls into defining and using crop management protocols that allow the maximization of productivity of elite wheat cultivars developed for Texas, which in essence consists in closing the gap between the yield potential of a cultivar under optimum growing conditions and the observed yield of a cultivar at the farm level,” he said.
AgriLife Extension outreach needed
“This will require a precise measure of the observed yield gap in the target regions,” he said. “It also requires identifying the major underlying factors explaining the gap, adopting crop management protocols conducive to directly or indirectly reducing the gap, and effectively transferring the technology to the farm.”
To accomplish this, the involvement of agronomists, specialists, plant breeders, soil scientists, plant pathologists, weed scientists and economists is needed, which can be seen as a challenge, he said. “But I prefer to see it as a unique opportunity instead.”
The bottom line is it is one thing to know what is required and another to get the farmers to use it, Guillen said.
“That requires a transfer of technology, and that is where AgriLife Extension is important,” he said.
Other grains and oilseeds
Guillen said his focus will not be on wheat alone. He will work with oats, barley and other small grains as well as oilseed crops such as camelina and canola.
“I have a lot of experience in camelina and collaborated on it with Dr. Gaylon Morgan here in Texas in the past,” he said. “I will try to reintroduce it in those areas where we believe there is potential and also work with canola if the opportunity arises.”
Guillen said when he first started working with camelina in Montana, no one knew anything about the crop, “so we had to show farmers how to grow it through Extension practices. I plan to use that same Extension networking to work with all the important crops here in Texas.”

Texas A&M AgriLife researcher Bagavathiannan receives weed science society Early Career Outstanding Scientist Award

By: Kay Ledbetter

Muthu Bagavathiannan

Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

Texas A&M AgriLife researcher Muthukumar Bagavathiannan, Ph.D., was honored with the Early Career Outstanding Scientist Award by the Weed Science Society of America, WSSA, recently at the society’s annual meeting in Maui, Hawaii. WSSA is the premier weed science society in the U.S. and this is the highest recognition for an early career scientist by the society.

The early career award is presented to scientists within the first 10 years of their career past their doctorate who have demonstrated originality and creativity and who have made a notable contribution to weed science with potential for continued excellence.

Bagavathiannan makes a difference at Texas A&M

“Dr. Bagavathiannan has been leading the way not only here at Texas A&M, but throughout the U.S. and worldwide to address the collective issue of weed management across agricultural and natural landscapes,” said Patrick Stover, Ph.D., vice chancellor of Texas A&M AgriLife, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research. “He is definitely an asset on our faculty and will help our agencies tackle future weed management issues. This is a well-deserved recognition.”

Bagavathiannan joined the Texas A&M University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences as a tenure-track weed science faculty member in 2014 with an AgriLife Research appointment. He has since established a rigorous research group that is gaining national and international recognition in weed science research.

“Dr. Bagavathiannan has served as a spark for our weed science program at Texas A&M,” said David Baltensperger, Ph.D., soil and crop sciences department head. “The timeliness of the expertise he brings has been exceptional as he was an author or co-author on more than 15 presentations and posters and his students were recognized for first and second outstanding poster at the recent WSSA meeting.

“Dr. Bagavathiannan has had a huge impact on our department, through training the next generation of scientists in emerging weed science issues while focusing on solutions for Texas producers.”

Bagavathiannan earned an agriculture and agronomy bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore, India, as well as a master’s in plant genetic manipulation from the University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, England and his doctorate in weed ecology from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.

With research interests in the broader area of weed science and agronomy, his particular emphasis is on weed ecology and management. With the threat of herbicide-resistant weeds, the goal of his research program is to understand the evolutionary biology and dynamics of herbicide resistance in weed communities and develop integrated weed management solutions for effectively targeting weed seedbanks. Notably, his program utilizes digital technologies in precision weed detection, management and ecology.

Bagavathiannan has published over 65 peer-reviewed journal articles, 10 book chapters and several outreach bulletins. He has already mentored three doctorate students, three master’s students, four postdoctoral researchers, two research assistants, five visiting scholars, 12 student interns and eight undergraduate researchers. He is currently mentoring seven doctorate students, two master’s students, a visiting scholar, a student intern and two undergraduate researchers.

Career contributions, accomplishments

Bagavathiannan currently leads a multi-state National Institute of Food and Agriculture, NIFA, Specialty Crop Research Initiative-funded research project on annual bluegrass management, a Beltwide Palmer amaranth seedbank management project funded by Cotton Incorporated, a project investigating gene flow between sorghum and johnsongrass funded by NIFA-Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grants Program and USDA-ARS, a harvest weed seed control project as well as a weed resistance management decision-support tool development funded by the NIFA-AFRI Foundational program, a weed-resistance management decision-support tool development funded by the Crop Protection and Pest Management program, and an organic cotton project funded by the NIFA-ORG program.

He is also a co-investigator in a number of projects that are currently ongoing or recently completed at the state and national levels.

He collaborates broadly at local, regional, national and international levels on a number of research projects focusing on integrated weed management. He is an active member of the Getting Rid of Weeds, GROW, and Precision Sustainable Agriculture teams led by Steve Mirsky, Ph.D., U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, USDA-ARS.

Examples of his leadership and professional services noted include the chair of the WSSA herbicide-resistant plants committee, an associate editor for the Weed Science and Crop Science journals and a panel member/reviewer for a number of U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture grants. He co-chaired the Weed Biology and Ecology section of the 2016 WSSA annual meeting in Puerto Rico and chaired the 2017 meeting in Tucson, Arizona. He also chaired the Weed Science and Growth Regulation session of the 2016 Rice Technical Working Group meeting in Galveston.

He chaired the Weed-Crop Interactions and Allelopathy sessions at the 2016 International Weed Science Congress held at Prague, Czech Republic, and co-organized a Workshop on Weeds and Invasive Species held at Alberta, Canada in June 2016. He will cahir the New Technology session at the 2020 International Weed Science Congress to be held in Bangkok, Thailand. And, he was an invited speaker at the 2018 Brazilian National Weed Science Congress at Rio De Janeiro; the 2018 Indian Society of Weed Science Congress at Jabalpur, India; the 2020 machine learning workshop for weed detection at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia; and the 2020 AAAS symposium on herbicide-resistant weeds at Seattle.

Bagavathiannan is also a recipient of the Dean’s Outstanding Early Career Research Award and the Vice Chancellor’s Outstanding Early Career Research Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University.

Straw joins Department of Soil and Crop Sciences faculty at Texas A&M University

Dr. Chase Straw has joined Texas A&M University and Texas A&M AgriLife Research as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences turfgrass program. He will be assuming the duties of retired professor Richard White in a tenure track position which is 30% teaching and 70% research.

Straw comes to College Station from St. Paul, Minnesota, where he held a postdoctoral position in the University of Minnesota Department of Horticulture.

Chase Straw

Dr. Chase Straw has joined the Turfgrass Science faculty at Texas A&M University.

A native of Frankfort, Kentucky, Straw earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Plant and Soil Sciences (Turfgrass Science) from the University of Kentucky. He then went on to earn both his Master of Science and Ph.D. in Crop and Soil Science (Turfgrass Science) from the University of Georgia.

“My primary research interest focuses on precision turfgrass management,” said Straw. “This involves interdisciplinary approaches aimed at understanding the spatial and temporal variability of turfgrass systems in order to develop practical strategies for reducing management inputs and improving the overall user experience.”

He also conducts general turfgrass management and physiology research that addresses issues faced by the turfgrass management professionals and the turfgrass industry as a whole.

Straw’s teaching role will begin with the fall 2020 semester. He will teach undergraduate courses in turfgrass management systems (SCSC-429) and turfgrass maintenence (SCSC-430) and oversee undergraduate research (SCSC-491). He will also join Dr. Ben Wherley to co-teach Professional Development in Turfgrass Science (SCSC-312).

Until then, Straw will be focusing on his research and forming relationships with collaborators throughout Texas. He will also co-advise the Aggie Turf Club and turf students.

“I am extremely excited to be in this position at Texas A&M,” Straw said. “I look forward to meeting and getting to know everyone in the department.”

Straw is a member of the International Society of Precision Agriculture, Turfgrass Producers International (TPI), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), the Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA).

While a graduate student, he received the Chris Stiegler Turf Science Fellowship from CSSA. He received the Dr. James Watson Scholarship from the STMA as both a graduate and undergraduate.

Engelke receives 2019 turfgrass Breeder’s Cup

Dr. Milt Engelke, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, will receive the Turfgrass Breeders Association’s Breeders Cup Award during the Agronomy Society of America meeting in San Antonio November 13.

Dr. Milt Engleke

Professor Emeritus Milt Engelke, Ph.D.

Engelke earned the honor for his work on Diamond zoysiagrass, released in 1996 under U.S. plant patent 10,636.

“We are very fortunate to have leaders and visionaries like Dr. Engelke in the turfgrass industry who have laid a strong foundation for a strong future,” said Dr. Ambika Chandra, Texas A&M AgriLife Research turfgrass breeder and successor to Dr. Engleke. “The Breeder’s Cup award is deserving recognition to Dr. Engelke’s contributions and the impact of Diamond cultivar in the turfgrass industry”.

Bred under the experimental name DALZ8502, Diamond was the finest textured zoysiagrass at the time of its release with the potential to provide a viable alternative to golf courses struggling to keep creeping bentgrass alive during the heat of the summer or to golf courses with heavy shade issues where bermudagrasses were failing, his nomination states.

Engelke served as the turfgrass breeder at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center in Dallas from 1980 through 2007. During that time, he developed and released 16 cultivars of three turfgrass species, seven of which were zoysiagrass cultivars. According to nominators, some of those cultivars set industry standards, including Diamond.

“One of his major contributions to the turfgrass industry has been the zoysiagrass germplasm collection trip to the Pacific Rim he made with Mr. Jack Murray in 1982,” Chandra said. “They covered tremendous grounds in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines, and brought back over 750 unique accessions of zoysiagrass representing eight of the eleven zoysiagrass species.”

TBA awards the Breeder’s Cup to the turfgrass breeder and cultivar that best exemplify originality in development. Through this award they hope to encourage breeders to think and act outside the box to advance turfgrasses.