Awards and Achievements

Lee Miller
2013 Provost Award for Creative Extension Programming by New Faculty (May 2013)
To recognize faculty with a current extension assignment who have made exceptional accomplishments in their first four years of service to MU in the field of extension or continuing education.

Heidi Davis
CAFNR Outstanding Student (May 2013)
Every year, top-notch undergraduate seniors are selected for the National Student Recognition Award based on their scholarship, leadership, and involvement. Heidi Davis, Plant Sciences senior, was one of the recipients of this award in February. Davis is graduating with her bachelor’s degree in Plant Sciences- Crop Management and will begin her master’s degree in Crop, Soil and Pest Management under Plant Sciences. She then plans on either pursuing a Ph.D. or directly going into an agronomist position.

Christa Smith
Staff Recognition Award (Apr 2013)
Christa Smith has received the Staff Recognition Award at the Celebration of Excellence awards banquet held April 11, 2013. Staff recognition award recipients must demonstrate outstanding ability and performance in productivity, quality of work, congeniality, judgment, dependability, initiative, leadership and dedication to the mission and values of the College.

Debbie Finke
Early Investigator Research Award (Apr 2013)
Debbie Finke has received the Early Investigator Research Award at the Celebration of Excellence awards banquet held April 11, 2013. The recipient must have demonstrated excellence in research performance that indicates a trajectory toward national or international recognition through individual research or contributions to research team efforts.

Gary Stacey
Frederick B. Mumford Award for Outstanding Faculty (Apr 2013)
Gary Stacey has received the Frederick B. Mumford Award for Outstanding Faculty Award at the Celebration of Excellence awards banquet held April 11, 2013. This is the highest faculty honor given by CAFNR and recognizes a sustained record of excellence in teaching, research and/or extension/outreach. Recipients must have demonstrated enthusiasm for and excellence in teaching, be a caring mentor and be viewed as an exemplary educator by both students and faculty.

Gene Stevens
J.W. Burch State Specialist Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Award (Apr 2013)
This award recognizes state specialists who have demonstrated effective program leadership with field staff, quality of extension publications, presentations and other educational materials, and recognition by state and national peers for their program quality.

Bob Sharp
Golden Award (Mar 2013)
Bob Sharp, CAFNR professor of plant sciences and director of the Interdisciplinary Plant Group, received the MU Graduate Professional Council’s Gold Chalk Award for 2013. The GPC Gold Chalk Awards are designed to recognize professors who have made significant contributions to the education and training of graduate and professional students.

Kara Riggs
2nd place at RCAF (Mar 2013)
Kara Riggs, took second place in the biological sciences division for her oral research presentation entitled, “Maise Nodal Root Growth Response to Water Deficits: Characterization in a Divided-Chamber Model System" at the 30th Annual Research and Creative Activities Forum hosted by the Graduate Professional Council.

Mel Oliver
Oliver elected Fellow of AAAS (Feb 2013)
Melvin Oliver, Research Leader with USDA-ARS was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to the Section on Agriculture, Food, and Renewable Resources. He was elected for distinguished contributions to plant stress biology, particularly for elucidating mechanisms of desiccation tolerance, as well as promoting plant sciences both nationally and internationally.

Perry Gustafson
Glasshouse Complex named after Gustafson (Feb 2013)
J. Perry Gustafson, adjunct professor in the Division of Plant Sciences at the University of Missouri, will be honored Feb. 5 by the University of Nottingham, UK, with a glasshouse complex named in his honor. The approximately £1 million ($1.6 million) greenhouse facility recognizes Gustafson’s 40 years of research to improve world wheat production.

Tye Shauck and Cody Cornelius
First and Second place at NCWSS (Dec 2012)
Tye Shauck, Ph.D. student advised by Reid Smeda, and Cody Cornelius, undergraduate student in Crop Management, were given awards at the North Central Weed Science Society annual meeting in St. Louis, MO. Tye won second place in the paper contest for oral presentation of the paper entitled: Pollen viability of Amaranthus species in vitro. Cody won first place in the undergraduate poster contest for the poster entitled: Efficacy of preemergence versus postemergence herbicides on glyphosate-resistant horseweed (Conyza canadensis) in soybean (Glycine max).

Stefanie Kincannon and Kelsey Price
Lobenstein scholarship (Dec 2012)
The MoTOC Board of Directors awarded Plant Science seniors, Stefanie Kincanon and Kelsey Price the Lobenstein Scholarship at the Missouri Green Industry Conference held December 6, 2012 in St. Charles, Missouri. Kincannon is studying Turfgrass Sciences and is presently working as an intern for MU Athletics gaining experience in sports field maintenance and game prep. Stefanie plans a career as a consulting agronomist in the turfgrass industry. Price is majoring in Landscape Design and currently works at Tiger Garden in the Agriculture Building on campus and is active with the Hermann Garden Club. Kelsey hopes to start working with a reputable landscape company to gain experience and eventually open her own landscape business.

Elizabeth Long and Paul Botch
‘Runners-up’ for the President’s Prize (Nov 2012)
Graduate students, Elizabeth Long and Paul Botch received awards at the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting in Knoxville, TN, November. 11-14, 2012. They were each awarded ‘Runners-up’ for the President’s Prize in the 10-minute student paper competition. Long’s paper was entitled, “Indirect effects of predator diversity on a vector-borne plant pathogen.” Botch’s paper was entitled, “Landscape interactions with subterranean termite (Isoptera:Reticulitermes) communities in Missouri: patterns of invasion as subdivisions are developed and age.”

Caitlin Vore and Heidi Davis
Western Seed Association scholarship (Nov 2012)
Caitlin Vore and Heidi Davis, two senior undergraduate students in Plant Sciences, were 2012 recipients of the Western Seed Association scholarship. At a banquet in Kansas City on November 5, Reid Smeda accompanied students to receive their distinguished awards. Scholarships are awarded to students who demonstrated long-term interest in agriculture.

Ryan Barnes, Matthew Caldwell, Garth Duncan, Stefanie Kincannon, Caitlin Vore, and Kari Weis
Students awarded scholarships from Missouri Seedmen’s Association (Oct 2012)
Six undergraduate students were honored with scholarships at the 2012 Missouri Seedmen’s Association banquet on October 4, 2012. Ryan Barnes, Matthew Caldwell, Garth Duncan, Stefanie Kincannon, Caitlin Vore, and Kari Weis all accompanied Dr. Collins to the Lake of the Ozarks and received their respective scholarship. These scholarships were raised from generous donations by the Missouri Seedmen’s Association, Missouri Southern Seed Corporation, Southern Seed Association, and the American Seed Trade Association.

Kim Martin
Certified Floral Designer (Oct 2012)
Kim Martin has been recognized by the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) as a recipient of its coveted Certified Floral Designer (CFD) designation. Martin was granted this designation after successfully completing the Professional Floral Design Evaluation (PFDE).

Sherry Flint-Garcia and Michael McMullen
Secretary Honor Award (Sep 2012)
Michael McMullen and Sherry Flint-Garcia, USDA Research Geneticists, Adjunct Faculty members in the Division of Plant Sciences, and members of the Interdisciplinary Plant Group at the University of Missouri, were awarded the USDA Secretary’s Honor Award for Excellence in the category of “Helping America promote sustainable agricultural production and biotechnology exports as America works to increase food security”.

Tye Shauck
First place at North Central Weed Science Society Contest (Aug 2012)
Tye Shauck won several individual awards including: Overall 1st place graduate individual, 1st place graduate individual in the Herbicide Injury Identification category, and 1st place graduate individual in the Written Sprayer Calibration category at the North Central Weed Science Society Contest.

Tye Shauck, Kristin Rosenbaum, Eric Riley & Doug Spaunhorst
First place at North Central Weed Science Society Contest (Aug 2012)
The University of Missouri graduate student Weed Science team won first place at our North Central Weed Science Society Contest help on August 9th. The teams competed against other weed science students and teams from Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Purdue, University of Wisconsin, and University of Nebraska.

Daniel Reynoso-Velasco
Reynoso-Velasco awarded scholarship from CONACYT (Jul 2012)
Daniel Reynoso-Velasco (I am from Mexico) and I am working on a project of the fauna of Naucoridae from Mexico under the advice of Dr. Sites in the Enns Entomology Museum. The formal tittle of my project is “Systematics of the Naucoridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of Mexico”. Last summer I was awarded with a prestigious scholarship from The Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología - CONACYT (the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology) to pursue this project. This scholarship covers an amount of $ 33, 000 dollars.

Brandon Thiel
CAFNR Outstanding Senior (May 2012)
Brandon Thiel, recent plant sciences graduate, Marshall, Mo., was named CAFNR’s Outstanding Senior for 2011-2012.

Eric Riley
Above and Beyond Award (May 2012)
The Above and Beyond Award is designed to recognize CAFNR members who go that extra mile. One winner is selected each month and nominations can come from their peers or their supervisors.