Faculty Expertise
Professor Brian Schwartz, was named Inventor of the Year and Professor Qingguo "Jack" Huang was named Distinguished Research Professor at the UGA 2026 Research Awards banquet.
Schwartz is recognized for exceptional success in developing commercially impactful turfgrass cultivars that have transformed industry practice. As lead turfgrass breeder at UGA’s Tifton campus, Schwartz plays a central role in one of the world’s premier public warm-season turfgrass breeding programs.
Huang has built a career defined by transformative contributions to environmental research and pollutant remediation. His work has reshaped how persistent contaminants are treated in water and soil, addressing compounds once thought to be nearly impossible to remediate.
Associate Professor Nicholas Basinger received an Outstanding Teaching Award at the annual Faculty Recognition Banquet, hosted by the Office of Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.
The ceremony recognizes the winners of the awards for teaching excellence, including the Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorships and the Russell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, as well as UGA’s new University Professors and Regents’ Professors.
Basinger was also named Outstanding Young Weed Scientist by the Southern Weed Science Society. This award is presented annually to a young weed scientist one from academia (teaching, research, extension) and is sponsored by BASF.
C. Robin Buell, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Chair in Crop Genomics at the University of Georgia, has been named the 2026 Southeastern Conference Professor of the Year, the conference’s highest faculty honor.
Buell becomes the fourth UGA faculty member to receive this award, which recognizes scholarly excellence and transformational impact in teaching, research and service at SEC institutions. UGA faculty have claimed three of the last five awards. An internationally recognized leader in plant genomics, bioinformatics and computational biology, Buell is a professor of crop and soil sciences in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Her work has been instrumental in the development of massive genomic datasets that are used by scientists worldwide to improve crop resilience and productivity.
Professor Timothy Grey was named SWSS Fellow by the Southern Weed Science Society (SWSS). This award is the highest honor the Society presents and recognizes those members who have made significant contributions to the Southern Weed Science Society and advances in the discipline of weed science in the SWSS region.
Congratulations, Dr. Grey!
Wayne Parrott, Distinguished Research Professor in the department of crop and soil sciences, director of the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics and interim director of the Center for Applied Genetic Technologies in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, along with Olin Rhodes (UGA Athletic Association Professor of Applied Ecology in the Odum School of Ecology and director of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory) have been named University Professor in recognition of their extraordinary impact on the University of Georgia.
In addition to teaching for almost 40 years in the department of crop and soil sciences, Parrott has played an instrumental role in shaping UGA’s study abroad programs. In the mid 1990s, he co-founded one of the university’s earliest study abroad programs, Agroecology of Tropical America. Parrott later served as chair of the risk management board for all UGA study abroad programs, helping the university establish core risk management protocols. He received the Study Abroad Director of the Year Award and Richard Reiff Award for Campus Internationalization in recognition of his enduring impact on UGA’s global initiatives.
Student Life
On May 15, the Crop and Soil Sciences Department hosted its annual 3-Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition, showcasing the depth and impact of graduate research across the department. Students delivered concise, engaging presentations, highlighting complex research in just three minutes.
Congratulations to all participants for sharing their work with the department community. We are proud of the outstanding research and presentations featured in this year’s competition.
Competition Winners
M.S. Category
- Winner: Alexis Herring
- Runner-up: Benedicta Sintim
- People’s Choice: Abdullah Al Maruf
Ph.D. Category
- Winner: Ujjwal Sigdel
- Runner-up: Wiriyanat Ployaram
- People’s Choice: Amandeep Kaur Dhaliwal
Crop and Soil Sciences graduate students were recognized for their outstanding research presentations at the Southeastern Specialty Crop Technology Conference & Show poster contest.
Master’s student Matteo Listuzzi (advisor: Wes Porter) earned second place for his poster, “Laboratory Comparison of a Seed Tube Optical Sensor and a Vision‑Based Software Measurement System for Assessing Corn Seed Singulation.” Sara Maktabi (advisor: George Vellidis), a Ph.D. student, received third place for her poster titled “Can Predictive Crop Modeling Enable Targeted Harvesting to Reduce Aflatoxin Risk?”
Congratulations to both!
The Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture annual retreat provided excellent opportunities for networking and sharing knowledge among the 35 faculty members and 45 graduate students who attended. The Integrative Precision Agriculture Club (IPAC) organized excellent student-focused sessions on innovation throughout the program including 3MT™ and poster competitions and a panel discussion on career pathways. The winners of the competitions with their advisor’s name in parenthesis are listed below.
Poster Competition
- Shekhar Thapa, Electrical and Computer Engineering (Rains)
- Amrinder Jahkar, Crop and Soil Sciences (Bastos) and Binita Ghimire, Crop and Soil Sciences (Lacerda)
3MT Competition
- Sara Maktabi, Crop and Soil Sciences (Vellidis)
- Polycarpe Mizero, Crop and Soil Sciences (Bastos and Baxter)
- Aleena Rayamajhi, Plant Pathology (Mahmud) and Thevathayarajh Thayananthan, Environmental, Civil, Agricultural and Environmental Engineering (Zhang)
Contact Us
Main Office: 706-542-2461
Fax: 706-542-0914
Miller Plant Sciences Building
120 Carlton Street
Athens GA 30602