Inside Ag | December 2019 - College of Agriculture

In this edition

A Message from Dr. Bajwa
Upcoming events
Recent grants in the COA/MAES
Upcoming funding opportunities
Recent Publications
Notices and opportunities
COA/MAES in the news

We are so very proud of our Fall 2019 College of Ag graduates! We celebrated the grads on Friday, December 13, with a reception before the commencement ceremony on Saturday, December 14.

A Message from Dr. Bajwa

Dear COA/MAES Family,It is the end of the semester and the end of 2019 already. I hope you all had a wonderful semester. We have a lot to celebrate and be thankful for this season! In November, we celebrated agriculture with the 20th annual Celebrate Ag event. Buzz Mattelin was honored with the 2019 Ag Leadership Award. He was also celebrated for his contributions to Montana agriculture with newest variety released from our barley breeding program, named Buzz in his honor.We had another batch of students graduate last week, including our first Hilleman Scholar, who graduated in 3.5 years. Congratulations to all of our graduates: We are proud of your accomplishments and look forward to seeing your many successes as you go through the next phase of life. A special thanks to all our faculty and staff who work tirelessly to ensure our students succeed in their classes and graduate to become successful professionals and people. Scholarship is one important means of helping our students through college. We awarded $650,000 in scholarships to 300 students this semester, thanks to our generous alumni and friends. We have an outstanding group of students, and these scholarships change the lives of the recipients, especially those who may not be able to pursue their dream of a college degree without this support.Lastly, I am close to completing my first year at Montana State University, and it has been a wonderful journey so far. Your support, dedication and hard work were instrumental in making my first year at MSU successful for me and for the college/MAES. I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for the great work you do, and the value you place in the people around you. Our people are our most important and valuable resource, and you show every day what exceptional professionals, educators, researchers and friends you are. I am so thankful and proud to work with you all. Stay safe and warm this holiday season.Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season with family and friends,

Sreekala Bajwa

Upcoming Events

December 13-January 13: MSU Winter Break. Happy Holidays!
January 7-9: Crop and Pest Management School, Bozeman Homewood Suites
January 9: Winter Crop Production Update Meeting, NWARC
January 16: "Every Semester Needs a Plan," 12-1:30 p.m. on the online National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity.

Recent Grants in the COA and MAES

Jane Boles, ARS: "Dry ageing of lamb to improve flavor consistency," Bair Ranch Foundation.
Eric Boyd and Seth Walk, MBI: "Microbial mechanisms of methylmercury metabolism in humans," University of Rochester.
Frankie Crutcher, EARC: "Variety selection and intercropping strategies for disease management in conventional and organic chickpea production," MTDA.
Stephanie Ewing, WSARE: "Fostering resilient plant-soil interactions on working ranches in semi-arid steppe ecosystems of north-central and eastern Montana," USDA NIFA.
Michelle Flenniken, PSPP: "Impact of nutrition on the outcome of honey bee virus infections," MTDA.
Qasim Khan, SARC: "Variety selection and intercropping strategies for disease management in conventional and organic chickpea production," MTDA.
Bruce Maxwell, WSARE: "Effects of habitat heterogeneity on crop yield and biodiversity," and "Precision agriculture applied to organic systems," USDA NIFA.
Dustin Perry, DATE: "Agricultural Education Safety Initiative," Utah State University.
Raina Plowright, MBI: "Ticks, climate and moose in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem," USGS.

Upcoming Funding Opportunities

NSF Biology Integration Institutes: LOI due December 20, proposal due February 6
Research to Action: Assessing and Addressing Community Exposures to Environmental Contaminants (NIH): Agency LOI due December 23, full application due January 21.
DARPA Detect It with Gene Editing Technologies (DIGET): Proposal abstract due January 7, full proposal due February 25.
Understanding the Rules of Life: Microbiome Theory and Mechanisms (NSF): Agency LOI due January 17, full proposal due March 2.
NIH Graduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement: Internal LOI due January 28, full application due May 21.
WSARE Graduate Students Grants in Sustainable Agriculture: MSU submission due February 6, full proposal due February 11.
EPA National Priorities: Research on Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances (PEAS) Impacts in Rural Communities and Agricultural Operations: Application due February 11.
USDA Integrated Research, Education and Extension Competitive Grants Program: Organic Transitions: Application due February 27.
NSF EarthCube: Developing a Community-Driven Data and Knowledge Environment for the Geosciences: Proposal due March 12.
USDA Agriculture Innovation Demonstration Center Program: Application due March 20.

Recent Publications

Mark Quinn et al.: "A patenting perspective on human neutrophil elastase (HNE) inhibitors (2014-2018) and their therapeutic applications," Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents.
Robert N. Stougaard, Mike Giroux et al.: "Allelic Impacts of TaPHS1, TaMMK3, and Vp1B3 on Pre-harvest Sprouting of Northern Great Plains Winter Wheats," Crop Science.
D. Mark Anderson et al.: "Association of Marijuana Laws with Teen Marijuana Use: New Estimates from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys," JAMA Pediatrics.
Margaret Branine, Anna Bazzicalupo, Sara Branco: "Biology and applications of endophytic insect-pathogenic fungi," PLoS Pathogens.
Edward E. Schmidt et al.: "Cholestatic liver disease results increased production of reactive aldehydes and an atypical periportal hepatic antioxidant response," Free Radical Biology and Medicine.
Anton Bekkerman, Gary W. Brester: "Don't Judge a Wine by its Closure: Price Premiums for Corks in the U.S. Wine Market," Journal of Wine Economics.
Subodh Adhikari, Laura A. Burkle, Kevin M. O'Neill, Casey M. Delphia, David K. Weaver, Fabian D. Menalled: "Dryland Organic Farming Partially Offsets Negative Effects of Highly Simplified Agricultural Landscapes on Forbs, Bees and Bee-Flower Networks," Environmental Entomology.
Collin J. Preftakes, David K. Weaver, Robert K.D. Peterson et al.: "Effect of insecticide formulation and adjuvant combination on agricultural spray drift," Environmental Contamination and Remediation.
Whitney C. Stewart, Jane A. Boles, Thomas W. Murphy et al.: "Effects of feeding juniper as roughage on feedlot performance, carcass measurements, meat sensory attitudes, and volatile aroma compounds of yearling Rambouillet wethers 1,2," Journal of Animal Science.
Frankie K. Crutcher et al.: "Effects on hyphal morphology and development by the putative copper radical oxidase glx1 in Trichoderma virens suggest a novel role as a cell wall associated enzyme," Fungal Genetics and Biology.
Renee Reijo Pera et al.: "Efficacy and safety of Immuno-Magnetically sorted smooth muscle progenitor cells derived from Human-Induced pluripotent stem cells for restoring urethral sphincter function," Stem Cells Translational Medicine.
Kevin McPhee et al.: "Exploring the genetics of lesion and nodal resistance in pea (Pisum sativum L.) to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum using genome-wide association studies and RNA-seq," Plant Direct.
Hayes B. Goosey, Kevin M. O'Neill et al.: "Ground-Dwelling Arthropod Community Response to Livestock Grazing: Implications for Avian Conservation," Environmental Ecology.
Kevin King, Huang Li, Jinling Kang, Chaofu Lu: "Mapping quantitative trait loci for seed traits in Camelina sativa," Theoretical and Applied Genetics.
Paul C. Stoy, Guta Wakbulcho et al.: "Maximum carbon uptake rate dominates the interannual variability of global net ecosystem exchange," Global Change Biology.
Igor A. Schepetkin, Liliya N. Kirpotina, Ganesh Balasubramanian, Mark T. Quinn et al.: "Neutrophil Immunomodulatory Activity of Natural Organosulfur Compounds," Molecules.
Medora M. Lachman, Amy Baeza, Molly Butler, Emily Gates, Julie Buono Geddes, Patrick Hatfield, Carl J. Yeoman et al.: "Pelleted-hay alfalfa feed increases sheep wether weight gain and rumen bacterial richness over loose-hay alfalfa feed," PLoS One.
Carl. J. Yeoman et al.: "Plasticity in the Human Gut Microbiome Defies Evolutionary Constraints, mSphere.
Raina K. Plowright, Daniel J. Becker, Daniel E. Crowley, Alex D. Washburne et al.: "Prioritizing surveillance of Nipah virus in India," PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Igor A. Schepetkin et al.: "Protective Effects of a new C-Jun N-terminal Kinase Inhibitor in the model of Global Cerebral Ischemia in Rats," Molecules.
Dengfeng Liu, Hongyi Li et al.: "Temporal and Spatial Signatures of Sediment Transport at the Watershed Scale: An Approach to Understand the Behavior of the Watershed," Tecnologia Y Ciencias del Agua.
Wei Li, John C. Priscu et al.: "The Antarctic psychrophiles Chlamydomonas spp. UWO241 and ICE-MDV exhibit differential restructuring of photosystem I in response to Iron," Photosynthesis Research.
Prashant Jha et al.: "The response of glyphosate-resistant and glyphosate-susceptible biotypes of junglerice (Echinochloa colona) to mungbean interference," Weed Science.

Note: Authors in bold are not necessarily primary authors, but MSU-affiliated authors.

Notices

The NCAT Soil Innovations Conference will be held at MSU March 30-31 and submissions for student and professional posters are being accepted!

The Department of Research Centers is currently recruiting three tenure track faculty positions at the NWARC, SARC and WTARC. Please forward these links to anyone you feel may be interested.

NWARC, Kalispell: Assistant/Associate Professor - Cropping Systems Agronomist
SARC, Huntley: Assistant Professor - Weed Science
WTARC, Conrad: Superintendent & Professor (open rank) of Agronomy

Do you have new research, awards or honors, or know someone who does and might be too shy? Email reagan.colyer@montana.edu with news and developments!