Noted agroecosystem research scientist Vivien Allen announces retirement
Texas Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources announced today (June 7) that longtime professor and leading agroecosystem research scientist Vivien Allen, the university's Thornton Distinguished Professor of Forages since 1995, would retire on Aug.31.
"I've had an incredible opportunity here to be part of finding positive ways to make changes," said Allen, who also has been honored as a Texas Tech Paul Whitfield Horn Professor.
"West Texas is an incredible area," she said. "I don't know of any other area that has fascinated me more in terms of the urgency in finding alternative strategies to monoculture systems."
The Nashville native has been a critical part of a team of researchers at Texas Tech and other universities and agencies that have partnered with farmers to find the real costs and returns and water used by different crop and livestock systems.
A research and demonstration project initiated by Allen near New Deal showed about 90 percent more cash profit and about 23 percent less irrigation water used for diversified systems over cotton alone at yields typical of the region.
Two years ago Allen and her team were awarded a $200,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to study how carbon cycles through large-scale agricultural systems. The two-year proof of concept grant focused on carbon cycling from the USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
"With increasing pressure on agriculture to meet global food, feed and fuel demands while preserving a healthy environment and sustainable natural resource base, understanding agricultural ecosystems at a landscape scale is becoming critically important," Allen said.
Allen joined the CASNR faculty in 1995 where her research work has largely centered on forage and grazing animals. Prior to joining Tech, she served in several academic posts at Virginia Tech University for 15 years.
Allen earned her bachelor's degree in general agriculture from the University of Tennessee. Her master's and doctorate with majors in agronomy and animal science are from Louisiana State University. Honors for Allen include a special "Award of Illumination" from the the American Forage and Grassland Council and the Society for Range Management.
Written by Norman Martin
CONTACT: John Burns, Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or john.burns@ttu.edu
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