Seeds for Success – That is the name of the annual award ceremony where we celebrate the accomplishments of investigators who have obtained a single grant of $1 million or more.  This year, the University recognized 14 individual grants and 28 faculty members from the College of Agriculture who received a Seeds for Success award. In the current funding climate, where most agencies fund only about 5% of the grant proposals they receive, it is truly impressive to receive a grant of $1 million.  Faculty members in eight of our eleven depart-ments received grants of $1 million or more on topics ranging from studying the basic biochem-istry of disease to educating minorities in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines, to bee breeding and conservation, to understanding basic plant cell wall structure.

In addition to those who were recognized with a Seeds for Success award, there are scientists throughout our college who are working on innovative research every day. While it may sound like a cliché, it is true that our scientists are making new discoveries that can change the world. It is exciting to talk to them and hear their passion about the work they do and the discoveries they make.  

For example, I’m sure most of you are aware of the decline of bees and other pollinators around the world. Honeybees pollinate 80% of our crops and without them, agriculture could not survive. Dr. Greg Hunt, Entomology, who won a Seed for Success Award, has bred a honeybee that can kill mites. Why is that important? Mites attach themselves to honeybees and weaken them so they die easily. The bees that Dr. Hunt bred will kill the mites and thus will survive in circumstances where the commercial honeybee will die. The current project is designed to decrease the impact of mites and increase colony survival by increasing availability and adoption of mite tolerant strains  and to build capacity for bee breeding in the Midwest so the queens can be grown locally. Dr. Hunt will also conduct molecular studies that may make it easier to select bees based on their mite-biting behavior. In another project, Dr. Lisa Mauer, Food Science and the Director of Center for Food Safety Engineering, leads a team interested in developing new methods to keep our food safe. The team is made up of investigators from the Colleges of Agriculture and Engineering who are working to develop new technologies to detect food borne pathogens before they get to the store shelf, thus prevent-ing major outbreaks of food poisoning. While the US has the safest food supply in the world, Dr. Mauer and her colleagues are working to make it even better. 

I could easily describe many more examples of the innovative and exciting research work going on in our college. Our faculty scholars, whether they receive million-dollar grants or smaller grants, have a passion for looking at problems as new challenges and working to solve those problems, whether they solve a basic biological question or are directly impacting people’s lives.  Thank you to all those faculty and staff members who support our research enterprise. We appreciate and value what you do for our college, our university, and the world.