Department  of
Plant  and  Soil  Science

NEWSLETTER

MARCH 2021

Welcome to the PSS Newsletter!

For ongoing coverage of department news and access to an archive of past Newsletters, check out the PSS Newsroom online.

RESEARCH  &  ANNOUNCEMENTS

Board of Regents announce promotions for PSS faculty members

At their recent meeting, the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents approved a number of faculty academic advancements. Among those promoted and recognized were five members of the Plant & Soil Science faculty. Glen Ritchie and Jyotsna Sharma were approved for promotion from Associate Professor to Professor, Brendan Kelly and Sanjit Deb were approved for promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with tenure, and Russ Plowman was approved for a continuing appointment in a non-tenure position as an Instructor of Horticulture. The advancements, approved on February 25, will go into effect on September 1.     READ MORE »

PSS welcomes Osama Mohawesh, Fulbright Visiting Scholar

For the next 7 months, Texas Tech University's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources will be home to Osama Mohawesh, an internationally-recognized scientist, as part of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program. Mohawesh is one of about 850 outstanding foreign faculty and professionals teaching or conducting research in the United States this year through the visiting scholar program. While at Texas Tech, Mohawesh will be working in the laboratory of Sanjit Deb on the implementation of smart irrigation and biochar amendments for sustainable water resources and soil fertility management.     READ MORE »

Siebecker & Lewis awarded USDA-NIFA grant to study potassium sorption and fixation

Recently, Matthew Siebecker and co-principal investigator Katie Lewis received a $335,489 grant from the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) Cooperative State Research Education & Extension Service toward their research on the factors that chemically determine potassium fixation in soil. They will conduct a series of experiments with nanoparticle and micron-sized silicon and aluminum oxides and clay minerals to better understand and "show at the molecular scale how important plant nutrients like potassium can react with the surfaces of soil clay minerals," says Siebecker.    READ MORE »

Research spotlight on women faculty

PSS's own Jyotsna Sharma is a member of the inaugural cohort of faculty to be highlighted by the Research Spotlight on Texas Tech Women Faculty initiative. Introduced during Women's History Month this year, the initiative is a joint effort between the Office of Research & Innovation, the Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DDEI), and the Women's & Gender Studies (WGS) program which aims to shed light on the research contributions of women faculty throughout the university.    READ MORE »

UPCOMING  EVENTS

- April 8th   PSS Seminar Series - Dr. Todd Anderson on environmental chemistry, fate, and analytical toxicology  See more »

- April 23rd   WSG Conference - keynote speaker Dr. Laura Foster on “Learning from Plants: Possibilities For Feminist Technoscience and Law”  Learn more about the conference »

RECENT  PUBLICATIONS

- Jarquin, D., de Leon, N., Romay, C., Bohn, M., Buckler, E. S., Ciampitti, I., . . . Lorenz, A. (2021). Utility of climatic information via combining ability models to improve genomic prediction for yield within the genomes to fields maize project. Frontiers in Genetics, 11 doi:10.3389/fgene.2020.592769

- Lasee, S., Subbiah, S., Deb, S., Karnjanapiboonwong, A., Payton, P., & Anderson, T. A. (2021). The effects of soil organic carbon content on plant uptake of soil perfluoro alkyl acids (PFAAs) and the potential regulatory implications. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 40(3), 820-833. doi:10.1002/etc.4786

- MacDonald, A. M., Lark, R. M., Taylor, R. G., Abiye, T., Fallas, H. C., Favreau, G., . . . West, C. (2021). Mapping groundwater recharge in Africa from ground observations and implications for water security. Environmental Research Letters, 16(3) doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abd661

- Pabuayon, I. C. M., Kitazumi, A., Cushman, K. R., Singh, R. K., Gregorio, G. B., Dhatt, B., . . . de los Reyes, B. G. (2021). Novel and transgressive salinity tolerance in recombinant inbred lines of rice created by physiological coupling-uncoupling and network rewiring effects. Frontiers in Plant Science, 12 doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.615277

- Rogers, A. R., Dunne, J. C., Romay, C., Bohn, M., Buckler, E. S., Ciampitti, I. A., . . . Holland, J. B. (2021). The importance of dominance and genotype-by-environment interactions on grain yield variation in a large-scale public cooperative maize experiment. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 11(2) doi:10.1093/g3journal/jkaa050

- Rumi, S. S., Liyanage, S., & Abidi, N. (2021). Conversion of low-quality cotton to bioplastics. Cellulose, 28(4), 2021-2038. doi:10.1007/s10570-020-03661-1

For a deeper cut, visit the departmental list of publications.

What are we missing?

Have an announcement, research development,
publication, or upcoming event? We want to hear about it!

If you have any questions, corrections, or contributions
regarding the PSS Newsletter or online Newsroom,
please contact Melanie Jackson at melanie.jackson@ttu.edu.

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Department  of  Plant  and  Soil  Science

NEWSLETTER | MARCH 2021

Texas Tech University, Department of Plant and Soil Science
Box 42122
Lubbock, TX 79409

806 _ 742 _ 2838