Chancellor's council distinguished research award goes to Hequet
Internationally-recognized cotton researcher Eric Hequet, the associate director of Texas Tech's Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute, was presented today (Dec. 10) with a 2010 Texas Tech University System Chancellor's Council Distinguished Research Award.
Recipients of the annual honor "exemplify the quality and character of the professors in the Texas Tech University System," said Chancellor Kent Hance. "Their passion and dedication to academics and research is unmatched and is apparent through their hard work and numerous achievements."
Hequet, who also serves as an associate professor and graduate program leader in Tech's Department of Plant and Soil Science, received a medallion and a $5,000 cash award. The Chancellor's Council raises funds for student scholarships and recruitment, faculty awards and support, as well as other programs, officials noted. It's the tenth year for the chancellor's council to present the awards.
Prior to joining Texas Tech in 1997, Hequet conducted research on cotton breeding at experiment stations in Africa, and later served as head of CIRAD's Cotton Technology Laboratory in Montpellier, France, as well as director of the international cotton program for CIRAD, a French research center working with developing countries on international agricultural and development issues. His doctorate is from France's University of Haute Alsace.
Hequet, who has a joint appointment with the Texas AgriLife Research Station, is currently focusing on collaborative research with the cotton breeding and cotton biotechnology community to develop improved properties in cotton fibers.
At Tech's Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute, Hequet helps lead a team of research scientists with a longstanding mission to add value to natural fibers produced in Texas, in addition to being an integral part of a growing collaboration with plant breeders, geneticists and biotechnologists.
"The multi-institutional and inter-disciplinary center at Texas Tech recognizes and capitalizes upon the efforts of the greatest concentration of world-class cotton research scientists in the nation," said Norman Hopper, executive associate dean of Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
The fluffy fiber is king on the High Plains of Texas. The cotton industry accounts for nearly $5 billion of the state's economy, and well over 20 percent of the nation's cotton production is grown within 100 miles of Lubbock.
Written by Norman Martin
CONTACT: Eric Hequet, Associate Professor, Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-1630 or eric.hequet@ttu.edu
1210NM10 / Photo: N Martin
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