Portrait of Sarah Boggess

Sarah Boggess Honored with 2022 Commission for Disability Advocate Award

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  The Chancellor’s Honors Banquet is an annual event recognizing outstanding service and achievements of students, faculty, and staff. Sarah Boggess attended the banquet and was honored with the 2022 Commission for Disability Advocate award. Congratulations to you for winning this honorary award! To read more about Sarah and what volunteering means to her, please visit https://honorsbanquet.utk.edu/2022-commission-for-disability-advocate-award/.          

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EPP Members Received UTK GSS Awards

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    Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week (GPSAW) is an opportunity to show our gratitude to graduate and professional students for their work and contributions to the university. The 2022 GPSAW will take place April 4 – 9 and will consist of events held by multiple departments and colleges throughout campus. During this week, the Graduate Student Senate (GSS) and The Graduate School will also be hosting an award ceremony to recognize students, staff, and faculty award recipients for their outstanding work and accomplishments. We are happy to announce three members of our department who will receive awards at the 2022 Graduate Student Senate Awards Reception: Trinity Hamm, Sarah Boggess, and Kassie Hollabaugh. We would like to thank them

Julian Cosner while in the field doing research

Julian Cosner Selected as SEC Emerging Scholar

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In 2021, the SEC Emerging Scholars Program was established to provide professional development and networking opportunities for current doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers who are considering careers in higher education. The Emerging Scholars Program encourages top scholars to seek employment and mentorship within the SEC. Each SEC member school was tasked with selecting up to 10 individuals to participate in the first workshop. The University of Tennessee had 45 outstanding nominees, and 10 were selected. Julian Cosner, a Ph.D. student under the tutelage of Dr. Grant, has been announced as one of the 10 participants! This is an impressive accomplishment. Congratulations Julian! 

portrait of Rufus Akinrinlola

Rufus Akinrinlola Announced as Recipient of Corteva DELTA Grant

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  Rufus Akinrinlola, a Ph.D. student under the tutelage of Dr. Kelly, has been announced as a recipient of the Corteva DELTA grant! The Corteva Developing Emerging Leaders and Talent in Agriculture (DELTA) program provides support to diverse talent and their research focusing on sustainable and reliable food production. Rufus participated in a research symposium, showcasing his research in nematode populations in soybeans and how they affect cover crops and Nitrogen fixation. Congratulations Rufus! Well-deserved.      

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2021 Awards for EPP!

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Recently, awards of all kinds have been bestowed to many of our wonderful individuals throughout our department and beyond. To just take a moment and be proud, please take a look at this HUGE list of achievements: *Pictures in order of appearance. Not pictured: Diversity & Inclusion Committee and Jessica Krob. Our Diversity & Inclusion Committee was selected as the 2021 winner of the Dr. Marva Rudolph Diversity and Inclusion Unit Excellence Award, which recognizes a unit or department that has demonstrated outstanding leadership and made consistent contributions to advancing diversity and inclusion at UT. Dr. Scott Stewart was selected for the Entomological Society of America (ESA) Southeastern Branch Award for Excellence in Integrated Pest Management Award. This award recognizes

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TES Student Paper Winners!!

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  The Forty-seventh Annual Conference of the Tennessee Entomological Society was held on October 9th, 2020. The event kicked off with a student paper competition, graduate and undergraduate. We are pleased to announce that the victors from both categories were from our department! Please give recognition and praise to our hard-working researchers:                           Graduate Competition 1st Place: Swati Mishra, PhD Student– Characterization of resistance to insecticidal double-stranded RNA in a Colorado potato beetle population 2nd Place: Gary Edwards, MS Student– Distribution of the odorous house ant, Tapinoma sessile, clades in East Tennessee and potential cryptic species status Undergraduate Competition: 1st Place: Marlo Black, EPP undergraduate– The common bed bug, Cimex

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2020 Awards for EPP Faculty & Staff

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  On August 21, 2020, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture presented more than 30 awards and promotions to Institute personnel. Among these were Drs. Alan and Mark Windham and Kimberly Campbell. Congratulations!   Awards Cavender Outstanding Award for Best Publication “Established by Dutch Cavender, former director of communications, and his wife, Marilee, this award recognizes excellence in the development of published material produced by professionals in the Institute of Agriculture. This year, we recognize two publications series. These co-winners were chosen from peer-reviewed publications produced by units of UTIA.”                                  Alan S. Windham & Mark T. Windham The Plant Pathologist Brothers received this

Michelle Odoi

SARIF Summer GRA Award – Michelle Odoi

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Congratulations, Michelle!! The 2020 Faculty Senate Research Council Summer Graduate Research Assistantship Committee and the Office of Research & Engagement (ORE) has made its funding decisions, awarding Michelle Odoi a $3600 stipend for the summer. Michelle is a PhD student with a concentration on Bioinformatics, Genomics, and Molecular Interactions. She is under the tutelage of Drs. Denita Hadziabdic-Guerry and Robert Trigiano. Her proposal is titled Hunger Solution in West Africa: Genetic Diversity and Spatial Distribution of Native Frafra Potato Plants. This project had been previously worked on by her mentor, Dr. Hadziabdic-Guerry in Africa during her Fulbright fellowship. You can view Michelle Odoi’s proposal here We are very proud of Michelle and can’t wait to see where her accomplishments take her!

Amani Khalil smiling candidly after her research poster was awarded "Best Judged Poster"

Amani Khalil Awarded “Judged Best Poster” from SSAWG Conference 2020!

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Amani Khalil– Mani to her friends– recently won the poster competition at the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG) this past week in Little Rock, Arkansas. She competed against 36 other posters from other students, extension agents, and organizations. Mani is a Graduate Research Assistant and working on her MS. She is tackling the interaction between native perennials and pollinators and follows the mentorship of Dr. Laura Russo. We are very proud of your accomplishment, Mani. Please keep up the great work!!