Texas Tech Davis College plant physiologist Haydee Laza (bottom row, fifth from right) joined fellow recipients of the 2026 E. Kika De La Garza Science Fellowship during the program's education session in Washington, D.C.
For Haydee Laza, understanding how plants respond to stress has never been confined to the laboratory. Throughout a career devoted to plant physiology, she has explored how crops communicate, adapt and survive in changing environments; research she believes can help address some of agriculture's most pressing challenges.
'I believe this experience will help me prepare students for federal careers as researchers and as future national leaders.'
That work has earned the Texas Tech associate professor of plant physiology selection as a 2026 E. Kika De La Garza Science Fellow, a prestigious U.S. Department of Agriculture program that connects faculty from Hispanic-Serving Institutions with the federal scientists and policymakers shaping the future of American agriculture.
Laza participated in the fellowship's weeklong education program in Washington, D.C., from July 13-17, where she joined a select group of faculty and staff from across the nation. The program provided direct access to USDA leaders, scientists and policymakers while offering an inside look at the department's research priorities, public service mission and career opportunities.
The experience continued with a second weeklong science fellowship in Urbana, Champaign and Peoria, Illinois, from July 20-24, followed by visits to the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Raleigh, North Carolina. Together, the programs introduced fellows to leading federal research facilities and scientists while encouraging new partnerships between universities and the USDA to strengthen agricultural research and innovation.
"As a system physiology scientist and a Texas Tech USDA Science Fellow, I believe this experience will help me prepare students for federal careers as researchers and as future national leaders," Laza said.
"The connection with the USDA's leading scientists will enable me to strengthen TTU's partnership with new federal agencies, contributing to multi-institutional research collaborations among universities, USDA units and agricultural stakeholders," she said. "I am looking forward to sharing what I learned and helping advance agriculture."
For Texas Tech, Laza's appointment reflects the university's growing national profile in agricultural research and its commitment to preparing students to address emerging challenges in food security, the circular bioeconomy, sustainable food production and public health. Her participation also expands the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources' network of collaborators within the USDA, creating new opportunities for research partnerships and student engagement.
Laza's research examines how agroecosystems function across biological, spatial and temporal scales by studying system-level traits. Through an integrative, transdisciplinary approach, she investigates crop health and agricultural sustainability, exploring how water availability and agricultural inputs, including fertilizers, influence production systems while also studying plant communication and the potential of phytochemicals to improve human health.
She has long emphasized collaboration as a cornerstone of her research program. One of her primary goals at Texas Tech is to build interdisciplinary research networks capable of identifying critical knowledge gaps and developing practical solutions to global food security challenges.
Her career has spanned government, industry and international research, giving her more than two decades of experience in plant physiology, agroecosystem functioning and systems-based crop research. Today, she collaborates with engineers, chemical physicists, computer scientists, pathologists, microbiologists and molecular biologists to improve crop resilience in corn, sorghum, peanuts, cotton and specialty crops. She also has spent more than a decade conducting research on organic and dryland production systems for sorghum, cotton and peanuts.
Established by the USDA in 1998, the E. Kika De La Garza Fellows Program was created to strengthen partnerships between the department and Hispanic-Serving Institutions by fostering collaboration in teaching, research and public service. Named for the late South Texas congressman E. "Kika" De La Garza, the fellowship has welcomed more than 300 faculty and staff members from colleges and universities across the United States.
De La Garza served six consecutive terms in the Texas House of Representatives before representing South Texas for 32 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. As chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, he became one of the nation's most influential advocates for agricultural policy, helping shape legislation on agricultural lending, federal crop insurance, commodity futures regulation and the organization of the USDA.
CONTACT: Krishna Jagadish, Interim Chair and Professor, Department of Plant & Soil Science, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-7953 or kjagadish.sv@ttu.edu
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