Peter Dotray – Dow AgroSciences Award for Excellence in Research

(American Peanut Research and Education Society)

Travis Miller – Texas A&M System Regents Honors(Texas A&M University)

Monte Rouquette – Dedicated Service Award(Southern Section of the American Society of Animal Science)

Jackie Rudd – 2010 Texas Wheat Man of the Year(Texas Wheat Producers Board Association)

B. B. Singh – 2010 Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth Award(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Sam Feagley, Tony Provin, William Johnson, Kevin Ong and Don Wilkerson –

Superior Service Award – Hurricane Ike Landscape Recovery and Renovation Team

(Texas AgriLife Extension Service)

Diane Boellstorff, Nikki Dictson, Jennifer Peterson and Matt Berg

Superior Service Award - Texas Watershed Stewards Team(Texas AgriLife Extension Service)

Volume V, Issue 3

April 22, 2011

AGGIE AGENDA

DEPARTMENT OF SOIL AND CROP SCIENCES

Sam Feagley – Irrometer Professional Certification Service Award

(Soil Science Society of America)

Paul Baumann – 2010 Educator Achievement Award(Texas Ag Industries Association)

Milton C. Englke – Fred V. Grau Turfgrass Science Award

Cristine MorganHonored Professor

(College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council)Namesake for 25th T-Camp2013 Chair of S1 Division

(Soil Physics, Soil Science Society of America)

David Baltensperger – Fellow(American Association for the Advancement of Science)

Milton C. Englke – Fred V. Grau Turfgrass Science Award

Monte Rouquette – Fellow(Crop Science Society of America)

Charles Hallmark – Undergraduate TeachingJames Muir – Individual, Off-campus Research

Bio-Resource Cycling Team: Tony Provin, Don Vietor, Richard White and others – Research Team

Rainwater Harvesting Task Force Team: Monty Dozier, John Smith and others – Extension Team

Bill Rooney – Faculty FellowVice Chancellor Awards in Excellence

(Texas A&M AgriLife)

DEPARTMENT OF SOIL & CROP SCIENCES AWARDS & RECOGNITION, 2010-2011

Congratulations to all our award recipients!The entire list of awards and scholarships may be viewed at the end of this newsletter.

Page 2 Volume V, Issue 3

In Memory

New Baby Congratulations!

Lincoln James Frankovich was born at 2:30 PM on April 13th in Texarkana, TX to Brooke and Jay Frankovich. He weighed in at 8 lbs and was 21 inches long. Brooke is the daughter of Tami and Frank Hons. Lincoln is their second grand-child and has an older brother, Oliver.

Condolences to Dr. Mike and Bon-nie Chandler on the death of Bonnie’s mother, Mrs. Vivian Leake. Mrs. Leake was 89 years old when she passed away on April 15 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

William Thomas Sistrunk ‘52AgronomyBryan, TX

In Memory of Former Students

On the Mend:Linda Carpenter is recovering from knee replacement surgery. Please remember her as she goes through the healing process.

Mason Briscoe II ‘44Agronomy

Richmond, TX

Clara Grace Robinson, newborn of Chance and Suzanne Robinson was born on March 8 at 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and 20 inches long. Chance is a gradu-ate student in Soil and Crop Sciences Department and Dr. Hallmark is his major professor.

Alan Ray Baty ‘87AgronomyDevol, OK

Pray for Rain

Volume V, Issue 3Page 3

KUDOS!

SCS Gold Housekeeping Award

Congratulations to Dr. Terry Gentry, Heidi Mjelde and students on receiving an excellent rating on their lab inspection. Dr. Christine McFarland (inspector from Office of Biosafety) commended Terry and Heidi on the impeccable lab they main-tain. She stated that “everything was in excellent order and labs like yours are few and far between”.

Great job Terry, Heidi and Crew!

2010 Educator of the Year

Dr. Paul Baumann was selected as the recipient of the “2010 Educator of the Year” award at the Texas Ag Industries Association Annual Confer-ence. Texas Ag Industries is the largest Agricultural organization in the state. Paul is a professor and state Extension Weed Specialist in the de-partment.

Congratulations!

If you have awards or information that you would like mentioned in future newsletters, please send to dsutherland@ag.tamu.edu

Page 4 Volume V, Issue 3

Congratulations Award Winners! Award Winners continued

We are on the web! soilcrop.tamu.edu

B.B. Singh honored by the University of IllinoisDr. B. B. Singh was honored by the Uni-versity of Illinois (UI) on April 14, 2011 with ‘International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement’ during a banquet at its Urba-na-Champaign campus attended by most of the Deans, Directors and Professors of the University and many invited dignitaries including the Consul General of India Ms. Mukta Tomer.

In his acceptance speech, Dr. B. B. Singh thanked his teachers, professors, colleagues and col-laborators, and the University of Illinois and G.B. Pant University for providing him excellent training and to International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Texas A&M University for their support for his professional development.

Fig.1. Dr. Robert A. Easter, the Chancellor of UI presenting the Award to Dr. B.B. Singh

Fig.2. Dr. B.B. Singh giving the acceptance speech

While presenting the Award, Dr. Robert A. Eas-ter, the Chancellor of the University of Illinois, said to Dr. Singh, “The University of Illinois wishes to honor your original contributions in cowpea and soybean genetics and breeding which have led to the development of sus-tainable cropping sys-tems and enhanced food security, family nutrition and income generation for millions of farmers and their families in India and Nigeria. While your re-search has produced a

quiet revolution in cowpea cultivation through-out the tropics, your culturally sensitive ‘hands on’ approach has also led to the empower-ment of women farmers through increased access to and training in crop production.

With this award, we acknowledge your disciplinary commitment and active mentorship, which have placed you in high regard among your stu-dents, and fellow researchers in the field of crop sci-ences”.

Volume V, Issue 3 Page 5 Volume V, Issue 3

Award Winners continued

George Cutts Selected for Short Course in PhilippinesCongratulations to George Cutts on being selected to participate in the Rice Research to Production short course in the Philippines at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), May 16 - June 3, 2011. This course is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to Cornell University Professor Susan McCouch that will cover course fees, lodging and food at IRRI. George is a part of a group from the United States who will be supported by the NSF. There will be additional participants coming from other countries.

Endowment to honor Dr. Joe Dixon and his con-tributions to the discipline of soil mineralogy and his distinguished career. The fund supports two competitive graduate student awards on topics central to soil mineralogy at SSSA national meet-ings.The 2010 Best Presentation Award went to Ro-berta J. McClure, a student at Texas A&M Uni-versity pursuing an M.S. degree in ge-ology where she is studying low-temper-ature geochemistry and soil mineralogy. Her current research project is a study of the mineralogy and

geochemistry of Pb, Zn, and Ag mine tailings in Zimapan, Mexico, originating from carbonate-rich deposits. The 2010 Student Travel Grant was presented to Ana L. Barrientos Velazquez, a student at Texas A&M University pursuing an M.S. degree in soil science where she is working with Dr. Dixon on his current research project on adsorption of aflatoxin by bentonite clays. She is

currently finishing her thesis and will pursue a Ph.D. under the ad-vising of Dixon and Dr. Youjun Deng.

Permission to copy from CSA News, March 2011 edition.

Dr. Joe B. Dixon (center) with the best presentation award recipient Roberta McClure (left) and the travel grant recipient Ana L. Barrientos Velazquez (right) at 2010 ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Annual Meetings in Long Beach, CA

Dixon Soil Mineralogy Awards

Finalist for 2011 AACC international Research Paper CompetitionLeonnard O. Ojwang was chosen as one of the six finalists who will advance to the next round of the 2011 AACC International Best Student Research Paper Competition. The competition will take place on Tuesday, October 18, during the AACC International Annual Meeting in Palm Springs, California.

Volume V, Issue 3Page 6

Crossbred Cowpea Shows Promising Results

Promising results from a crossbred cowpea variety has Texas AgriLife Research scientists hopeful that the drought-resistant trait will soon be available to producers.Though commonly consumed as a food staple, the cowpea (commonly known as the black-eyed pea) has lots of po-tential to expand into the feedstock sector in both livestock and cropping systems, according to Dr. B.B. Singh, a visiting professor in the soil and crop sciences department at Texas A&M University.“Drought is one of the major con-straints to agriculture across the world,” Singh said. “The breeders are trying to develop drought-tol-erant varieties. Screening for this in the field is very difficult. What we’ve done is bring the drought inside the greenhouse and so far, we’ve seen some very favorable results.”In a greenhouse at Texas A&M in College Station, Singh has been working with a group of scientists to breed a drought-resistant cow-pea variety. This type of cowpea could be valuable as a food staple in the U.S., Asia, South America and in Africa where high temperatures and little rainfall dictate growing conditions.“We’ve been working on this with the goal of understanding the physiology of drought tolerance so we can better breed for it,” said Dave Verbree, a doctoral student in plant breeding and physiology at Texas A&M. “We’re looking at how many genes are involved and breeding drought-tolerant lines that combine only the best traits for a given environment.”Verbree is using thermal imaging to assist in identifying the

superior genotypes that will be used in the crossbreed-ing experiments, which are done through conventional methods of breeding.Singh came to the department as a visiting professor following his retirement three years ago from the Inter-national Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Africa. He is working with colleagues Creighton Miller, D.C. Sheuring and Dr. Bill Payne, using field trials in College Station

as part of research efforts. The team also is finding solutions to breeding cowpea varieties that are aphid resistant in addition to drought tolerant.According to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Africa, the cowpea is an impor-tant food crop in many African, Asian and South American coun-tries, especially as an alternative source of protein where people cannot afford meat and fish.The crop typically is grown by subsistence farmers with limited agricultural resources, who use it to feed livestock or sell for ad-ditional income.Estimates from the International Food and Agriculture Organiza-tion and other sources indicate that more than 6 million tons of cowpeas are produced annually worldwide, with sub-Saharan Africa responsible for about 70 percent of that amount. With availability of new short-duration heat- and drought-tolerant and

pest-resistant varieties, cowpea production would sig-nificantly increase in the coming decades.

You can view the entire article written by Blair Fannin for AgriLife TODAY at:http://agrilife.org/today/2011/01/31/promising-results-for-breeding-drought-resistant-cowpea/

Volume V, Issue 3Page 9

April 23 Get rid of your old computers (see note below)

April 27 Seminar - 4:00 p.m., Room 103, refreshments at 3:45 p.m. Meredith Bilek PhD-SOSC at 4:00 & David Whitmire MS-PLBR at 4:30.

May 22-25 National Association of Plant Breeders Annual Conference - Hosted by Soil and Crop Sciences

May 27 Small Grains Advisory Meeting

June 21 Stiles Farm Field Day - Thrall, TX.

Oct. 5 Turfgrass and Landscape Field Day - College Station

2011 Calendar Events

If you have old (working or non-working) IT equipment here at the department, please contact Scott Vajdak in the communications office at svajdak@tamu.edu to schedule a time for him to prepare your items to be taken to surplus.

If you have old computers at home that you would like to get rid of and you live in the Brazos Valley (includes counties of: Brazos/Burleson/Washington/Robertson/Grimes/Madison/Leon), there will be a Household Hazardous Waste Collection event held on Saturday, April 23rd from 7am – 2pm. This is a city sponsored event held twice a year at the University Services Build-ing just past the Veteran’s Park. There are restrictions on what you may bring but it’s a great chance to safely get rid of that old computer that nobody wants! Visit www.cstx.gov/hhw or call the Brazos Valley Solid Waste Agency’s 24-hour hotline at 979-764-3809 for more information.

Communications Office - Get rid of your old computers!

Tomorrow, April 23

TAMU 2474 · College Station · TX · 77843-2474· PH 979-845-3041

Texas A&M University - Department of Soil & Crop Sciences - TAMU 2474, College Station, TX 7784343

Page 7 Volume V, Issue 3

Turf & Agronomy Club Picnic

Soil & Crop Sciences & Entomology Faculty SeminarSeveral faculty attended the Wednesday lunch seminar with Dr. Elsa Murano presenting “New op-portunities for agricultural development funding through the Feed the Future Initiative.” This pro-gram was hosted by Entomology and Soil and Crop Sciences.

About 70 people enjoyed good food, fellowship, fun and games at the de-partmental picnic co-sponsored by our Agronomy and Turf clubs Sun-day afternoon (Apr. 17) at Tangle-wood Park in Bryan. Students, fac-ulty, staff and parents came together to celebrate Parents Weekend and to wish our Graduating Seniors well as they move on to the next phases of their lives. A good time was had by all!

Volume V, Issue 3Page 8

Texas A&M University - Department of Soil & Crop Sciences - TAMU 2474, College Station, TX 7784343

Summer Internship

The Summer Plant Breeding Internship at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, is designed to introduce undergraduate students to the discipline of plant breeding, especially those students who be-lieve that they have a interest in the discipline. The Plant Breeding Summer Internship is a collab-orative effort among the plant breeding faculty in the departments of Soil & Crop Sciences and Hor-ticultural Sciences. Students who are interested in participating in the internship identify and prioritize five plant breeding programs across the two depart-ments. The Department office then works with those programs to identify three that will accept the student for approximately one month each during the sum-mer. This program is open to Texas A&M students and to students at other colleges and universities.

2011 Interns

"For 2011, so far we have two outstanding stu-dents lined up for the program," says Dr. C. Wayne Smith, Professor, Cotton Breeding and Associate Department Head.Mitchell Schumann will rotate through the pro-grams of Rodante Tabien (rice), Ray Smith (for-age legumes) at the Overton Research and Extension Center, and another program to be determined. Jae Ebeling will work with Jackie Rudd (wheat) at the Amarillo Research and Extension Center, Jane Dever (cotton) at the Lubbock Research and Extension Center, and Russ Jessup (peren-nial grasses) at College Station. Anyone interested in this program should con-tact Dr. Smith at cwsmith@tamu.edu (979-845-3450) to learn more about the opportunity.“I believe that the interns so far have found the program helpful as they decide their future pro-fessional direction. The plant breeding faculty has been supportive of the program and pro-vides invaluable guidance for these potential plant breeders of tomorrow,” Dr. Smith says.

Investing in Students at A&M - instead of a new tractor - by Dudley Smith

Angela and I are from farm families who placed a high value on education. Our parents helped us in our undergraduate programs and we received some financial support for our graduate degrees. We always wanted to return that favor by supporting Texas A&M students who were not particularly academic superstars but were hard-working, from middle-income families. Beyond the financial assistance, we wanted to give them a vote of confidence that someone believed in them enough to invest in their future. I worked for the Texas A&M System for nearly 40 years in agricultural research administration and later teaching in the Soil and Crop Sciences Department. As I read the Foundation’s Spirit magazine over the years, most of the articles fea-tured people who had committed millions to the University. Although we were financially secure for our retirement years, we did not have this level of wealth but wanted to find a way to help Texas A&M students and the Texas AgriLife Research programs. Not having mega-millions, we weren’t sure how to do this with our level of resources. But we learned that the Foundation has plans and programs that enable nearly anyone to enrich institutional programs. Here’s how our experience unfolded. I frequently drove by a John Deere dealership on my way to Smith Farm and one day noticed an almost new tractor on their used equipment lot. I stopped to see how much the newer tractor would cost. It was several thousand dollars but we could afford it and it would look nice in our shed at Smith Farm. Well, we thought about it a couple of days. Christmas was coming and both of us would enjoy a newer tractor. In past years Angela had received a new cattle guard and I had received a new cattle squeeze chute. Those made for prudent gifts on a small ranch - so no one gets wet open-

ing gates or gets hurt working cattle. The shiny new-looking tractor sure looked nice on the dealer’s lot. From a practical view, the JD tractor we already had would move hay bales, shred pastures, drill post holes, and perform other ranch chores. But my cows and neighbors really wouldn’t care if I had a newer tractor. Besides, the rear tires were nearly new, the heavy duty batteries were still good for another winter, and a block warmer was already installed for easier starts on cold mornings. We started to think about what would have a more lasting effect: a nicely painted depreciat-ing asset or an endowment that would impact the lives of students. So instead of buying a newer tractor, we decided to spruce up the old one - with a new more-comfortable after-market seat (without duct taped repairs), repaired the flashers, and fixed some oil leaks. By then the newer trac-tor at the dealership was gone and I felt a little relieved. We really wanted to invest in something more substantial that would impact the future lives of others. I called our Ag Development Foundation folks at Texas A&M to help us plan endowments that would have more long-lasting impacts than a tractor. Without any pressure, they helped us set up two endowments. We funded a University En-dowed Opportunity Award (EOA) program with $25,000. This program would help an undergrad-uate from a rural area that may not have super academic records but had a strong work ethic from home and wanted to major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Many of these kids struggle financially and have to work extra jobs to gain a college education. We wanted to ease those burdens. This endowment “felt good” once we got it set up so we looked into doing a second gift - to enhance graduate studies. We funded a second endowment, the “Dudley

Page 10 Volume V, Issue 3

Investing in Students at A&M - instead of a new tractor - by Dudley Smith

T. ‘79 and Angela R. Smith Travel Endowment” which was fully funded over five years. This pro-gram now provides short-term exploratory travel experiences, enabling an MS or PhD student in Agronomy to travel outside of Texas. Dr. David Baltensperger, Head of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences commented that “this special-ly-designed program by the Smith Family helps us in recruitment and expands graduate research by enabling students to visit public or corporate research programs, establish linkages, and bring those experiences back to similar programs at Texas A&M and Texas AgriLife Research.”

Dudley T. Smith ‘79 Soil and Crop SciencesTexas A&M UniversityCollege Station, TX 77843-2474Phone 979 - 845 - 4702Fax 979 - 845 - 0456dt-smith@tamu.edu

By working with the Foundation, the Smith’s were able to structure and direct their gifts toward specific programs they had envisioned earlier, within financial levels they could afford. What a triple-win deal. A succession of students will have their education expanded beyond what they or their parents would have envisioned. Today the Smith’s are retired and feel financially secure because of prudent decisions in their past financial management. They’re able to provide for their son Gresham Smith ’96, and wife Barbara So-bell Smith’96, and daughter Beth Glasshoff. And they’re also able to provide scholarships within their financial means that will impact the lives of others - because someone provided support that enabled them to get quality educations and re-search degrees decades ago. Know what? The Smith’s say they’ll never miss the money that went into endowments. “We just re-invested a part of our assets into ‘human capi-tal’ into helping others.”

Investing in Students (continued)

Volume V, Issue 3Page 11

2011 Big Event

Jessica Koepp. Marshall McCown, Olivia de Hoyos. Heather Watson, Kelsey Hoegenauer, Elise Zeigler, Page GravesBrittany Sousa, Jeff Wong, Jamie Faust

Zamara Thibodeaux, Sarah Coffey, Justin Ng

Thank ya'll for participating

in the "Mulch-Turf-Pruning-

Etc. Extravaganza". With

some good old-fashioned

teamwork you knocked out

a big job in short order.

Dr. Z

Thank-you Angela and Dudley for all the support you have provided over the years!

AWARDS PROGRAM April 14, 2011

Welcome Dr. Wayne Smith Invocation Ms. Carol Lange Dinner Introductions Dr. Wayne Smith Guests Speaker Featured Speaker Dr. Terry Moore

British Petroleum Remediation Management Recognition of Student Activities Dr. Wayne Smith Turf Club Mr. Reagan Hejl Agronomy Society Ms. Paige Graves Graduate Student Association Mr. Justin Ng Recognition of Awardees Undergraduates Students Mr. Mark Hall Dr. David Baltensperger Dean’s List Distinguished Students List Outstanding Freshman Outstanding Sophomore Outstanding Junior Outstanding Senior 2011-2012 Scholarship Designees Adjourn Dr. David Baltensperger

SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS for 2011-2012 Stacy Arteaga Cecil and Ola Beasley Goodman Undergraduate Scholarship Dean Ide P. Trotter Sr. Memorial Scholarship Dr. Cleveland & Frances Gerard Scholarship Eduard Beloui James Hubert Foster Scholarship Sarah Coffey Texas Seed Trade Association Scholarship Allen and Joan Wiese Endowed Scholarship Landon Crotwell Texas Seed Trade Association Scholarship Billie B. and Gloria S. Turner Production Scholarship Jacquelin Ebeling J. F. Mills Endowed Scholarship H. Jean Mills Memorial Scholarship Jamie Faust McAfee Memorial Scholarship Dianna Fisher J. C. and Judy Blue Undergraduate Scholarship Dr. Cleveland & Frances Gerard Scholarship Michael Frantzen Texas Turfgrass Scholarship Texas Turfgrass Scholarship – William E. “Bill” McLaughlin Scholarship Texas Turfgrass Scholarship – Paul M. Drummett Scholarship Madeline Frazier Church Scholarship Michael Hinkelman Texas Turfgrass Scholarship – A. W. and Barbara Crain Scholarship Kelsey Hoegenauer Ceres, Inc. Scholarship Katrina Horn Billie B.and Gloria S. Turner Production Scholarship

Trevor Jones Morris G. Merkle Endowed Scholarship Jessica Koepp Kenneth & Marion Porter Endowed Scholarship Dr. Cleveland & Frances Gerard Scholarship

Colby Lisenby Golf Course Builders Association of America Foundation Scholarship Keith Ebanks Memorial Scholarship Benjamin Martin Dick Holland Endowed Scholarship Kenneth & Marion Porter Endowed Scholarship Lindsey Merritt Jack Hulgan Memorial Scholarship Whitney Minton Texas Seed Trade Association Scholarship Kenneth & Marion Porter Endowed Scholarship Jeffrey Morris Ceres, Inc. Scholarship Billy, Gloria and Gerry Conrad Scholarship Jacob Shaw Joe S. Campise Memorial Scholarship Kenneth Lindsey Memorial Scholarship Billy, Gloria and Gerry Conrad Scholarship Heather Watson Kenneth & Marion Porter Endowed Scholarship Jeff Wong Dick Holland Endowed Scholarship Pierce Young C.W. Smith Undergraduate Plant Breeding Scholarship Charles ’63 and Lynann ’66 Simpson Endowed Scholarship Elise Zeigler Olin & Thelma Smith Endowed Scholarship Charles ’63 and Lynann ’66 Simpson Endowed Scholarship Dick Holland Endowed Scholarship

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT OFFICERS

Agronomy Society Paige Graves – President

Brady Green – Vice President Heather Watson – Secretary Whitney Minton – Treasurer

Sarah Coffey – Reporter Kiley Book – Merchandise Coordinator

Drs. David Zuberer & Steve Hague – Faculty Advisors

Turf Club Reagan Hejl – President

Blake Cain – Vice President Bill Hardin – Secretary

Lindsey Merritt – Treasurer Ryan Heine – Member Services

Drs. David Chalmers & Richard White – Faculty Advisors

SOIL and CROP SCIENCES UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS and RECOGNITION, 2010-2011

Paige Graves, Heather Watson, Jacquelin Ebeling, Sarah Coffey,

Laura Seiferman, Cathy Kobylinski and Laura Kolb First in Team Judging

(Southern Regional Soils Judging Contest)

Paige Graves – 2011 Bruce Maunder Outstanding Student in Agronomy

(Texas – American Society of Agronomy)

Paige Graves – 1st place SASES Visual Presentation Sarah Coffey – 2nd place SASES Visual Presentation

Payne Burks – 3rd place Poster Competition (American Society of Agronomy)

SCSC Agronomy Society – Presidents’ Trophy Award, 2nd in National Club Poster Competition and

3rd in SASES Quiz Bowl (American Society of Agronomy)

Laura Kolb, Lindsey Merritt, Kurt Spoor, Chris Dyess, Kent

Kieschnick, Reagan Hejl and Jaxson Bailey 4th in Student Challenge

(Sports Turf Managers Association Annual Conference)

Reagan Hejl and Lindsey Merritt Toro University

(Toro Foundation)

Jessica Koepp, Jamie Faust and Paige Graves Surface Mine Reclamation Workshop Scholarship

(Surface Mine Reclamation Workshop)

Undergraduate Dean’s Honor Roll Paige A. Graves – Spring 2010

Kyle M. Hegi – Fall 2010 Katrina A. Horn – Fall 2010

Samuel Jeon – Fall 2010 Jessica M. Koepp – Spring 2010

Jake T. Weiss – Spring 2010 Mitchell J. Schumann – Spring 2010

Undergraduate Distinguished Student List Reagan W. Hejl – Fall 2010 Lucas R. Dyer – Fall 2010

NOTE: Students must be enrolled in 15 hours and maintain a 3.75 or 3.5 GPA respectively to be placed on these lists

GRADUATE STUDENT FELLOWSHIP/ ASSISTANTSHIP RECIPIENTS, 2010 - 2011

Brijesh Angira Pathways to a Doctorate Assistantship Henry Awika Borlaug International Scholars Program Ivan Barrero Farfan Valdo Puskaric Pioneer Plant Breeding Fellowship Bhoja Raj Basnet Monsanto Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program Francis Beecher Monsanto Graduate Assistantship in Plant Breeding Meredith Bilek Marsha and Murray Milford ’55 Graduate Endowment Tom Slick Fellowship Christopher Chick Monsanto Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program Calvin Clary Texas Water Resources Institute Mills Scholarship George “Trey” Cutts Monsanto Graduate Assistantship in Plant Breeding Jim Florey Texas Water Resources Institute Mills Scholarship Kendra Gregory Graduate Diversity Fellowship Derek Husmoen Texas Water Resources Institute Mills Scholarship Rosa Jauregui Monsanto Graduate Assistantship in Plant Breeding Tom Jondiko Waniska Endowed Graduate Assistantship Mason Kearns R. C. Potts Turfgrass Assistantship Endowment

Carol Lange J. Ron Quinby Endowed Graduate Assistantship Adam Mahan Monsanto Graduate Assistantship in Plant Breeding Meghyn Meeks Monsanto Graduate Assistantship in Plant Breeding Harley Naumann Pathways to a Doctorate Assistantship Haly Neely Graduate Diversity Fellowship Eng-Hwa Ng Monsanto Graduate Assistantship in Plant Breeding Justin Ng Luminant Environmental Research Fellowship Bharath Reddy Pathways to a Doctorate Assistantship Madahy Romero Pathways to a Doctorate Assistantship Julie Rothe Monsanto Graduate Assistantship in Plant Breeding Sean Thompson Monsanto Graduate Assistantship in Plant Breeding Aaron Turner Rice Belt Warehouse Graduate Assistantship David Verbree Graduate Diversity Fellowship Jacob Washburn Henry M. Beachell Endowed Scholarship Fund Yujin Wen Tom Slick Fellowship Jatara Wise USDA National Needs Fellowship in Bioenergy

GRADUATE STUDENT ASSOCATION OFFICERS Justin Ng – President

Jim Florey – Vice President Kolbyn Joy – Treasurer

Katie Rothlisberger – Secretary Yujin Wen – GSC Representative

SOIL & CROP SCIENCES GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS and RECOGNITION, 2010-2011

Edinalvo Camargo – Graduate Student Award

David Whitmire – First Place Poster Ben McKnight – Second Place Poster Zachary Eder – Third Place Poster

(Texas Plant Protection Association)

Zachary Eder – First Place Poster (Southern Branch – Agronomy Society of America)

Kolbyn Joy – First Place Oral Competition

Neha Kothari – Second Place Oral Competition (2010 Beltwide Cotton Conference)

Bhoja Basnet – Gerald O. Mott Meritorious

Graduate Student Award (Crop Science Society of America)

Katie Rothlisberger – Second Place Poster

(SSSA International Annual Meeting)

Edinalvo Camargo - First Place Oral (Southern Weed Science Society)

Chance Robinson – First Place Oral Ryan Mueller – Second Place Oral

(Soil Survey & Land Resource Workshop)

Vladimir da Costa – First Place in Taxonomy, Second Place Graduate Poster, Session Winner and

Interdisciplinary Research Ribbon Recognition 2010 Student Research Week

Justin Ng – Second Place Oral and Session Winner 2011 Student Research Week

(College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)

SOIL & CROP SCIENCES FACULTY and STAFF AWARDS and RECOGNITION, 2010-2011

Peter Dotray – Dow AgroSciences Award for Excellence in Research

(American Peanut Research and Education Society)

Travis Miller – Texas A&M System Regents Honors (Texas A&M University)

Monte Rouquette – Dedicated Service Award

(Southern Section of the American Society of Animal Science)

Jackie Rudd – 2010 Texas Wheat Man of the Year (Texas Wheat Producers Board Association)

B. B. Singh – 2010 Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth Award

(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Sam Feagley, Tony Provin, William Johnson, Kevin Ong and Don Wilkerson –

Superior Service Award – Hurricane Ike Landscape Recovery and Renovation Team

(Texas AgriLife Extension Service)

Diane Boellstorff, Nikki Dictson, Jennifer Peterson and Matt Berg Superior Service Award - Texas Watershed Stewards Team

(Texas AgriLife Extension Service)

Cristine Morgan Honored Professor

(College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council) Namesake for 25th T-Camp (Texas A&M University)

2013 Chair of S1 Division (Soil Physics, Soil Science Society of America)

David Baltensperger – Fellow

(American Association for the Advancement of Science)

Milton C. Englke – Fred V. Grau Turfgrass Science Award Monte Rouquette – Fellow

(Crop Science Society of America)

Sam Feagley – Irrometer Professional Certification Service Award (Soil Science Society of America)

Charles Hallmark – Undergraduate Teaching

James Muir – Individual, Off-campus Research Bio-Resource Cycling Team: Tony Provin, Don Vietor,

Richard White and others – Research Team Rainwater Harvesting Task Force Team: Monty Dozier,

John Smith and others – Extension Team Bill Rooney – Faculty Fellow

Vice Chancellor Awards in Excellence (Texas A&M AgriLife)

Paul Baumann – 2010 Educator Achievement Award

(Texas Ag Industries Association)

SOIL and CROP SCIENCES DEPARTMENTAL AWARDS

Lindra Blum – Administrative Support Cristine Morgan – Research

Emily Hollister – Research Collaboration John Cason – Research Support

Beth Speer – Technical Staff Support Jacob Reed – Graduate Research

Steve Hague – Teaching Sarah Coffey – Undergraduate Student Support

Ceres, Inc. – Special Service Recognition

The Department of Soil and Crop Sciences would like to congratulate all of the winners, thank the donors who have made these scholarships possible,

and thank all who support our department on a daily basis.