2016

Special Achievements

Agricultural and Applied Economics

Amanda Smith - Nominated for the Achievement Award by the Georgia Association of County Agricultural Agents. Recognition with the award will take place in Little Rock, AR this July at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference. The Achievement Award is awarded to Agents or Specialists with less than 10 years of service in Cooperative Extension who have exhibited excellence in their field. Less than 2% of a state's members can achieve the Achievement Award in a given year.

Crop and Soil Sciences

George Vellidis - Received the D.W. Brooks Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, recognizing his work developing precision agriculture techniques that allow farmers to grow more with less water and his international collaborations that focus on precision agriculture technologies.

Entomology

David Riley - 2016 Recognition Award in Entomology from the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America. David Riley's work on the effects of cowpea curculio and other insects on vegetables has earned him this prestigious award.

Horticulture

Patrick Conner - Southeastern Pecan Growers Association Outstanding Presentation Award

Tim Coolong - Jr. Extension Specialist Award from GACAA

Lenny Wells - Georgia Pecan Growers Association Presidential Award

Library

Duncan McClusky - The Mayor and City Council declared June 1, 2015 as "Duncan McClusky Day" to honor Duncan's volunteer activities over the last 45 years.

NESPAL

Peggy Ozias-Akins - Received the D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor Award, recognizing her 30-year career at UGA developing new breeding techniques for peanuts.

Tifton Campus Conference Center

Kim Rutland - Received the 2016 Tifton Tift County Chamber of Commerce Prince Business Woman of the Year award.

USDA ARS - Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit

Bill F. Anderson - Elected Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy in 2015.

C. Corley Holbrook - President-Elect of the American Peanut Research and Education Society.

USDA ARS - Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory

The 2015 Champion Award presented to USDA ARS for leadership in the research and development of the use of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum for agriculture. The following individuals have made significant contributions in documenting the benefits derived from use of this material.

• Dr. Ray Bryant
• Dr. Rufus Chaney
• Dr. Dinku Endale
• Dr. Michael Jenkins
• Dr. Martin Locke
• Dr. Harry Schomberg
• Dr. H. Allen Torbert
• Dr. Dexter Watts

David Bosch - Selected as one of the 2016 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Fellows.

PhD Student Accomplishments:

Josh Clevenger - PhD student, under the direction of Dr. Peggy Ozias-Akins, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics

• Bailey Award from the American Peanut Research and Education Society for best paper.
• Glenn and Helen Burton Feeding the Hungry Scholarship.
• James L. Carmon Award from UGA for creativity in computer applications.

Jake Fountain - PhD student, under the direction of Dr. Baozhu Guo, Crop Protection and Management Research Unit USDA-ARS and Dr. Bob Kemerait, Plant Pathology Department

• Overseas Dissertation Research Internship, International Crop Research Center for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India, February - May 2015
• Second Place, Joe Sugg Graduate Student Competition, American Peanut Research and Education Society (APRES) Annual Meeting, Charleston, SC, July 14-16, 2015
• Peanut Proud Scholarship Recipient ($2000), International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, July 25-27, 2015
• Invited Symposium Speaker, Chinese Society of Plant Pathology Symposium at the American Phytopathological Society (APS) Annual Meeting, Pasadena, CA, August 1-5, 2015
• Honorable Mention, Graduate Student Competition, Southern Division APS Meeting, Balm, FL, February 20-22, 2016
• Overseas Dissertation Research Internship, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China, March - May 2016

Aparna Petkar - PhD student, under the direction of Dr. Pingsheng Ji, Plant Pathology Department

• Received the 2016 Raymond J. Tarleton Student Fellowship from the American Phytopathological Society (APS)

Jeff Standish - PhD student, under the direction of Dr. Katherine Stevenson and Dr. Tim Brenneman, Plant Pathology Department

• Received 1st Place Awards for his presentations at the 2016 meeting of the Southern Division of the American Phytopathological Society (APS) and the 2016 meeting of the Georgia Association of Plant Pathologists.
• Tied for a 3rd Place award in the PhD category for his presentation at the 4th Annual Interdisciplinary Graduate Plant and Soil Symposium.

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