Volume 13 - Number 2

January 23, 2023

A weekly news and event update for the Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences.

Ms. Cindy Meador Retires

“Ms. Meador was a great team player for the Department of Life, Earth, and Environmental Sciences. She was always willing to help out, whether it was teaching an extra class,

serving on committees, or advising extra students. She was a dedicated instructor who contributed greatly to the teaching of general biology and microbiology. We will miss her greatly.”

-Dr. David Sissom, Associate Dean of Science, Professor of Biology

While her retirement is richly deserved, Ms. Meador will not become too much of a stranger,

as she anticipates advising new students to LEES during Orientations this summer!

Team Success at National Western Meat Judging

Team Results

4th overall team

1st in reasons by 5 points

1st in pork by 26 points

2nd in specs

Individual Results

Eli Mathis, Fr. Agribusiness: 3rd high individual overall,

1st high in specs with the only perfect 100, 4th high in pork

Colt Edrington, So. Agricultural Business and Economics: 9th high individual overall, 3rd high in lamb

Mikayla Hudnall, So. Animal Science: 1st high in pork judging, 3rd in reasons

Ryan Heitschmidt, Jr. Animal Science: 5th high in pork judging

Megan Miller, Jr. Agribusiness: 3rd high alternate

Madison Colvin, So. Agricultural Education: 7th high alternate

Other team members: Bryce Hutson, So. Agricultural Media and Communication, Caleb Olfers, So. Animal Science, Parker Franz, So. Animal Science, Juan-Carlos Buentello, Sr. Animal Science, Noah Harrell, Jr. Agricultural Education, Payton Ownbey, Jr. Animal Science,

and Katelynn Welsh, Jr. Animal Science.

Coached by Megan Eckhardt, Ph.D, Agriculture, Will Boyd, M.S. Animal Science and Coach Dr. Loni Lucherk, Dr. Gordon W. Davis Chair in Meat Judging, Assistant Professor of Animal Science.

Published in Frontiers Journal

Frontiers is a peer-reviewed journal which is the third

most-cited and sixth largest research publisher.

Pioneering technology and artificial intelligence are some of the many topics covered in this journal.

The research articles in this journal have been viewed more than 1.9 billion times,

to reflect the power of open research.

Dr. Keshav Shrestha, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Physics, and team members have successfully published research in the Frontiers journal.

The other team members consisted of the Texas Center for Superconductivity and Department of Physics at the University of Houston, The Department of Physics at The University of Texas at Dallas,

and The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA.

Solving Issues with Cotton Farming earns USDA Grant

A research project to recycle cotton gin waste and potentially reduce the amount of water that is needed to grow cotton in the Texas Panhandle quickly turned into professors winning a national grant.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Ogallala Aquifer program awarded a $140,000 grant to Dr. Craig Bednarz, Stan and Gerry Sigman Associate Professor of Water Resources and Director of the Semi-Arid Agricultural Systems Institute, Dr. Bridget Guerrero, Associate Professor of Agricultural Business and Economics and Dr. Nathan Howell of the College of Engineering.

DNA Technology Lecture Delivered by Dr. Ghosh

Dr. Nabarun Ghosh, Professor of Biology, delivered a lecture and led a workshop in the Biotechnology Lab of the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum in Kolkata, India on December 18, 2022.

Dr. Ghosh covered topics on DNA science and its applications in Biotechnology and Medicine and Forensics in his lecture called "Application of DNA Technology in Medicine and Forensics." Topics included the use of DNA bar-coding techniques for indexing and identification of species and patient specific treatments, along with crop improvement and alleviation of incurable ailments.

Mr. Subhabrata Chowdhury, Director of the Science Museums, celebrating Dr. Ghosh.

Dr. Ghosh conducting hands-on activities

over Mitotic Chromosomes in the lab.

Buffs On The Move

A Moment with Mrs. Bachman

Pond's Ponder

"The fool doth think he is wise,

but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."

-William Shakespeare