Agricultural Sciences

College of Ag Sciences celebrates faculty, staff achievements in research

The awards ceremony was held Nov. 19 to celebrate a year of outstanding success and accomplishments in research. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences celebrated another year of outstanding success and accomplishments in research during the 2024 Research Awards Ceremony, held Nov. 19 at the Hintz Family Alumni Center on the University Park campus.

Troy Ott, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences, kicked off the ceremony by speaking to the college’s efforts in shortening the distance between discovery and impact.

“We work hard to discover new knowledge and translate that into solutions that will solve humanity's greatest challenges,” Ott said. “We have people actively discovering and innovating at the edge of the unknown through fundamental research and others that are translating this knowledge and those innovations to solutions that will change the world. That is the pipeline that we have to nurture — from discovery to impact.”

Blair Siegfried, associate dean for research and graduate education, spoke to the college’s accomplishments in a wide variety of sectors.

“Our success is evidenced by our increasing grant funding, commercialization of intellectual property, high impact research publications and the outstanding quality of our grad students,” Siegfried said. “And, of course, how we integrate our research with our extension programs and graduate and undergraduate education.”

Alex and Jessie C. Black Excellence in Research Award

This award honors tenure-track faculty in the college for exceptional and original agricultural research conducted at Penn State. It’s a tribute to the late Alex Black, a professor of animal nutrition and the associate director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, and his wife, the late Jessie Clements Black.

This year’s recipient is David Hughes, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Global Food Security, who has published more than 100 journal articles in prestigious publications such as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Current Biology. He also has brought in more than $31.2 million in funding from highly competitive grant programs at the U.S. National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the Gates Foundation and other funding agencies.

Hughes has achieved research excellence in two distinct lines of work. First are his studies on how fungal infections affect ant behavior, which have provided deep insights into the effects of microbes on insect brain neurochemistry. Second is the development of PlantVillage, an initiative that empowers smallholder farmers across Africa, Asia and the Americas with affordable technologies that democratize access to knowledge.

Early Achievement in Research Award

This year’s recipient is Fang (Rose) Zhu, assistant professor of entomology, whose work focuses on the mechanisms insects use to adapt to natural and synthetic toxins.

Zhu uses molecular biology, genomics and structural biology to explore insecticide resistance, and her groundbreaking work includes studies on spider mites, potato beetles and pesticide toxicity in bees. She also has developed advanced methods for detecting pesticide residues, now used by several Penn State labs.

Zhu has given 53 invited talks around the globe and published 71 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, with her work cited more than 4,300 times. In 2023, she was named one of the top 2% of scientists in her field globally by Stanford University and Elsevier.

Integrated Team Award

Receiving this award were Stephan Goetz, professor of agricultural and regional economics; Claudia Schmidt, assistant professor of marketing and local/regional food systems; and Sarah Cornelisse, senior extension program specialist.

This team was acknowledged for its work addressing the untapped potential of agritourism and direct-to-consumer sales, which showed that many organizations are unaware of what agritourism is and how to overcome the challenges associated with it.

Recipients of this year's awards were recognized for their excellence in furthering research efforts in the college. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Interdisciplinary Research Team Award

Accepting this award were faculty in the Center for Root and Rhizosphere Biology, who were recognized for their collaborative contributions in advancing the understanding of plant roots and their associated rhizospheres — the soil that surrounds the roots of a plant.

The center — which brings together expertise from microbiology, soil science, genetics and various other fields — has been instrumental in securing more than $10 million in funding over the past four years, supporting numerous research projects and publications. Additionally, by hosting speakers, organizing symposia and providing leadership opportunities on the steering committee, the center ensures that its student and postdoctoral members are well-prepared for their future careers.

High-Impact Research Publication Awards

Six research teams received these awards, which recognize peer-reviewed research demonstrating significant impact. This year's award categories, papers and departments include:

Nutritional and Food Security: “The composition of environmental microbiota in three tree-fruit packing facilities changed over seasons and contained taxa indicative of L. monocytogenes contamination,” published in the journal Microbiome and led by researchers in the Department of Food Science.

Biodiversity: “Landscape transcriptomics as a tool for addressing global change effects across diverse species,” published in the journal Molecular Ecology Resources and led by researchers in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management.

One Health: “Prophage proteins alter long noncoding RNA and DNA of developing sperm to induce a paternal-effect lethality,” published in the journal Science and led by researchers in the Department of Entomology.

One Health: “Bile salt hydrolase catalyses formation of amine-conjugated bile acids,” published in the journal Nature and led by researchers in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences.

Human and Community Dynamics: “Just energy imaginaries? Examining realities of solar development on Pennsylvania's farmland,” published in the journal Energy Research & Social Science and led by researchers in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education.

Integrated Ecosystems: “A deep learning-based novel approach to generate continuous daily stream nitrate concentration for nitrate data-sparse watersheds,” published in the journal Science of The Total Environment and led by researchers in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.

Roy C. Buck Award

This endowed award honors untenured, tenure-track faculty members whose research involves social or human sciences. The award was established by Roy C. Buck, a professor of rural sociology, who retired from Penn State in 1981.

Justine Lindemann, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, was honored for her publication, “‘A little portion of our 40 acres’: A black agrarian imaginary in the city,” published in the journal Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space.

Research Innovator of the Year

Chad Dechow, associate professor of dairy cattle genetics, received this award for his work pinpointing the chromosomal defect responsible for a specific motor impairment in Holstein calves.

Research Professional Staff Awards

This year’s awards went to Scott DiLoreto, greenhouse manager in the Department of Plant Science, and Emily Jozefik, post-award research administrator.

DiLoreto was recognized for his contributions to supporting a diverse array of research programs with unparalleled expertise and enthusiasm. Jozefik was acknowledged for her work managing a portfolio of $50 million in extramural grants and supporting high-priority issues.

Andrew Read, senior vice president for research at Penn State, concluded the ceremony with comments speaking to the importance of the research happening within the college.

“There’s incredibly good fundamental research happening here at the same time that there’s a real desire and drive to make big impacts in the world,” Read said. “The amazing thing about the college is the way that the basic science is married with the applied science so beautifully. With these efforts, the college is incredibly well positioned to contribute to almost every big problem of the 21st century.”

For a complete list of recipients and information about their research, visit the Research Awards webpage.

Last Updated December 10, 2024

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