ݮƵfaculty, students honored by American Society of Agronomy
Contact: Keri Collins Lewis
STARKVILLE, Miss.—The American Society of Agronomy recently recognized outstanding contributions by a ݮƵ professor and graduate students.
L. Jason Krutz, director of the Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute and professor in the ݮƵDepartment of Plant and Soil Sciences, is a new American Society of Agronomy Fellow, the highest recognition awarded to members of the esteemed professional society. Nominated by Raja K. Reddy, an ASA Fellow since 2005, Krutz has worked at ݮƵfor 10 years.
In his former role as research and Extension professor, he served as the state irrigation specialist and developed the Row-Crop Irrigation Science and Extension Research, or RISER, program to promote the adoption of economically viable agronomic and irrigation management technologies that improve soil physio-chemical properties, water quantity and quality. Named director of the Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute in 2017, he coordinates multiple federally funded grants investigating progressive agronomic practices. While at MSU, he has procured $20.6 million in extramural funding from state, regional and national commodity boards, federal agencies and the private sector.
Three graduate students in the ݮƵDepartment of Plant and Soil Sciences are recipients of the Chris Stiegler Memorial Graduate Student Travel Grant from the Crop Science Society of America in support of students focused on turfgrass science. Atikah Putri of Indonesia, Martin Ignes of Argentina, and Lovepreet Singh of India all received grants to fund conference participation. Singh placed first in the diversity poster competition. Putri placed third in the C-5 (turfgrass science) subcommittee graduate poster contest.
The American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America share a cooperative relationship because of their common interest and hold a joint annual conference.
“Mississippi State was very well recognized at one of the largest international meetings in the world on agriculture,” said Darrin Dodds, head of the ݮƵDepartment of Plant and Soil Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “To now have multiple faculty fellows in this professional society from ݮƵspeaks to the caliber of experience in research, education and outreach in our ranks. That our turfgrass students would garner three of the travel grants speaks very highly of their efforts and the mentorship of their major professors, Jay McCurdy and Brian Baldwin.”
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