Faculty Awards & Recognition
Mark Tjoelker
The MEPS Award Committee has selected Mark Tjoelker, Ecosystem Science and Management Department, to receive the first MEPS Outstanding Young Faculty Award. A few of the Committee's Comments on Mark's selection:
- 69 refereed journal articles, 32 since joining TAMU. All publications in top-tier journals with high ISI impact factors, including 4 publications in Nature.
- Honored as an ISI Most Highly Cited Researcher indicating that he is among the top 1% of all scientists in terms of how often his research is cited by others.
- PI or Co-PI on >$1 million in funding from external sources.
- Serves on the editorial boards of 4 major journals.
- Served on 6 grant review panels at DOE and EPA.
- Strong record of service to MEPS, department, COALS, and TAMU.
- Strong letters of support, from both internal and external sources.
I want to thank the Awards Committee: Fred Davies (Chair), Tom Boutton, Tom Cothren and Clint Magill for doing such a great job in developing the evaluation criteria, evaluating three outstanding junior faculty members and all the effort and time they have invested in this selection.'
David Briske
- The Society of Rangeland Management's Chapline Award acknowledges Dr. David Briske's contributions to important advances in both rangeland ecology and rangeland management for approximately 30 years. Dr. Briske has organized his research program to serve as a bridge between plant ecology and rangeland management. Attainment of this challenging goal required an in-depth understanding of contemporary science and its relevance to rangeland issues. His work has contributed to several rangeland principles that support effective rangeland conservation and management such as; grass and grassland responses to herbivory, population ecology of bunchgrasses, and most currently, contributions to state-and-transition models and thresholds. As an example, the book chapter co-authored with Jim Richards addressing plant responses to defoliation that was published in the Society for Range Management publication, “Wildland Plants: Physiological Ecology and Developmental Morphology”, remains one of the most definitive syntheses of perennial grass responses to grazing.
Tom Boutton
- Tom Boutton, Professor and Plant Ecologist, Rangeland, Ecology and Land Management Department, received a Regents Professor Award from the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, November 2006. He was one of the first scientists to develop and apply stable isotope methodologies in ecology, biogeochemistry, soil science and agronomy.
Tom also edited a special issue of the journal Soil Biology and Biochemistry: Filley T, Boutton TW (eds.). 2006. Ecosystems in Flux: Molecular and Stable Isotope Assessments of Soil Organic Matter Storage and Dynamics. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam (special issue of the journal Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 38, No. 11)
Harry Cralle
- Harry Cralle, Associate Professor, Soil and Crop Sciences Department, received the ING Professor of Excellence Award, during the Texas A&M v. Texas Tech basketball game on Feb. 13, 2007.
Fred Davies
- Fred Davies, Professor, Horticultural Sciences Department, has been named a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Faculty Fellow. This designation is made in recognition of outstanding faculty who have contributed to the scholarly creation and dissemination of new knowledge through exceptional research leadership and grantsmanship within their respective discipline.
Also, Dr. Davies was recently named a Fellow of the International Plant Propagators' Society (IPPS), which is an industry-driven organization composed of eight regions around the world.
William Payne
- Dr. William Payne, Professor of Crop Physiology, Soil & Crop Sciences Department, was elected American Society of Agronomy Fellow, and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science this year. AAAS Fellows are recognized for their contributions to science and technology. Dr. Rooney also co-edited a book entitled "Dryland Agriculture", published by American Society of Agronomy. Link here.