Jay Chism joins the Southwest Research, Extension and Education Center (SW-REEC), one of the four research, Extension and education centers of the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), on Jan. 24 as the director. Chism is no stranger to the southwest Missouri area, as he has served as the Southwest Regional Director…
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Interdisciplinary Plant Group Celebrates 40th Year
IPG's 40th Anniversary is 2021
Established in 1981, the Interdisciplinary Plant Group (IPG) celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2021. The IPG is a community of University of Missouri (MU) faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and professionals pursuing transformative ideas in the field of plant biology. The group seeks to encourage cooperation between scientists engaged in plant molecular biology, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, biotechnology, evolution, ecology and…
An Untapped Industry
Putting Maple on the Map in the Lower Midwest
Maple syrup production is most known in the Northeastern United States, but is there a potential maple industry in the lower Midwest? Hannah Hemmelgarn, assistant program director of the Center for Agroforestry, recently received a grant totaling $473,481 for the project, Putting Maple on the Map in the Lower Midwest, to explore just that. This project involves partners in Missouri…
Taking Risk
Abed Rabbani is an assistant professor in personal financial planning (PFP), studying financial risk tolerance
Measuring financial risk tolerance is not always simple as many over or underestimate their true risk tolerance. What does this mean for investors and financial planners? That’s where the research of University of Missouri professor is coming in. Abed Rabbani, assistant professor in personal financial planning (PFP), teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the department, along with performing research in…
University of Missouri and University of Georgia Receive NSF-NIFA Award to Help Fight the Soybean Cyst Nematode
MU's Lesa Beamer and UGA's Melissa Mitchum will co-direct the 4-year award, which totals $1.2 million
The National Science Foundation (NSF) – National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Plant-Biotic Interactions Program has jointly funded an award to researchers at the University of Missouri (MU) and the University of Georgia (UGA) to help combat a devastating soybean pathogen, soybean cyst nematode (SCN). University of Missouri’s (MU) Lesa Beamer, professor in biochemistry, and University of Georgia (UGA),…
Expanding Forestry Efforts
CAFNR announces gift to create landowner engagement position in forestry
Barrels made from Missouri white oak truly represent a 100 percent value-added product from the Show-Me State. From landowners’ woodlands, to master loggers harvesting mature trees, to the manufacturing plants assembling the barrels, white oak woodlands help sustain rural communities across Missouri. And not just white oak but red oak, too, ensures Missouri’s $10 billion forest products economic engine keeps…
Groundbreaking Work
Randy Prather, Curators' Distinguished Professor in Animal Sciences, speaks about the latest pig kidney breakthrough
After The New York Times reported two weeks ago that a pig kidney was functioning normally after surgeons successfully attached it to a human. We spoke with Randy Prather, Curators’ Distinguished Professor in Animal Sciences, who laid the foundational research for this latest achievement. When pig cells, tissues or organs are transplanted into a primate, pre-existing antibodies recognize a on…
A Big Plan for a Small Berry
Andrew Thomas, research assistant professor in the Division of Plant Science and Technology, has received a Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grant
Andrew Thomas has big plans for a small berry. Thomas, research assistant professor in the Division of Plant Science and Technology in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri, has received a Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the project Moving American Elderberry into Mainstream Production and…
Exploring Careers in Agriculture
Several Research Centers throughout the state hosted high school students
For years, the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) has opened the doors to the Agricultural Research Centers to high school students from across the state. This is an opportunity for research centers to showcase its research, programs, and academic opportunities. The Career Exploration Days feature several CAFNR faculty and staff as well as MU…
Ahmed Balboula Receives Outstanding Investigator Award
Ahmed Balboula receives grant through the National Institute of General Medicine
Ahmed Balboula, assistant professor in animal sciences, is working to understand how chromosome segregation is regulated in female gametes (oocytes). During the early stages of pregnancy, chromosome mis-segregation can result in aneuploidy (abnormal number of chromosomes in a cell), the leading genetic cause of miscarriages and congenital abnormalities. His work has implications for both animal and human health. Balboula recently…