Browse Profiles and Awards Stories - Page 3

Randy Nuckolls, who joined 4-H as a child in Whitfield County more than 60 years ago, was honored with the 2023 Georgia 4-H Lifetime Achievement Award at the 4-H Gala in August. In the decades since, Nuckolls became deeply involved in Georgia 4-H, earning the title of Master 4-H’er and serving as a summer camp counselor at Rock Eagle 4-H Center before continuing to support Georgia 4-H throughout his career.

Georgia 4-H celebrated top 4-H’ers from around the state during the 80th annual 4-H State Congress in Atlanta July 18 to 21. State Congress features the state-level Project Achievement and Leadership in Action contests as well as recognition of youth development professionals, supporters and public officials for their contributions to the success of 4-H in Georgia.

The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has been selected as one of five university partners participating in a multi-year effort focused on identifying and addressing consumer questions involving the pork industry, announced the National Pork Board. The establishment of the Real Pork Trust Consortium will bring together the diverse expertise of five universities and will focus on three key areas to build consumer trust.

Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, director of the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety, has been elected as a fellow into the prestigious American Academy of Microbiology. Diez-Gonzalez was one of 65 new fellows admitted in the Class of 2023 out of a nomination pool of 148.

Six alumni from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences were recognized at the 67th annual CAES Alumni Association Awards banquet on April 29. Two Georgia agricultural leaders were honored with induction into the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame at the event, hosted at the UGA Tate Center Grand Hall.

Dan Suiter, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension entomologist and well-known expert in addressing the needs of pest control operators, has been named the Orkin Professor of Urban Entomology at UGA. Orkin, an industry leader in pest control services and protection, has created the endowment to help strengthen the entomology program in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Four graduate students in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have been honored with an E. Broadus Browne Award for Outstanding Graduate Research. Given in honor of the former director of the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations, the award is presented to outstanding CAES master’s and doctoral students recognized for both their research and effective communication.

Kevin Vogel, an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Georgia, has received a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation. Supported by the more than $1 million CAREER grant, Vogel and his team will spend the next five years building upon the still-limited body of research regarding the symbiotic relationship between kissing bugs and a highly specified bacterium that resides in their gut.

Georgia 4-H dedicated the Thomas F. Rodgers Administration Building at Rock Eagle 4-H Center to honor former Georgia 4-H state leader Tom Rodgers for his years of service to 4-H and University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. During his tenure as Georgia 4-H leader, Rodgers championed the renovation of the Rock Eagle 4-H Center, raising more than $2 million to secure Rock Eagle’s status as a centerpiece of Georgia 4-H.

Plantfi, a novel system to track plant moisture, sunlight and overall houseplant health, is the winner of University of Georgia’s 2023 FABricate Entrepreneurial Initiative competition. Alex Breazu, the UGA mechanical engineering student who leads Plantfi, got the idea while on his own “plant parent” journey, during which he overwatered and killed his fair share of houseplants.