MSU students win big at national cotton conferences

Author: Vanessa Beeson

Eleven Mississippi State students were recent award winners at the 2017 Beltwide Cotton Conference. The award winners, all from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, included master and doctoral students from the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences and the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology.

The Beltwide Cotton Conference is coordinated by the National Cotton Council and cooperating partners as the largest cotton conference in the world. The event includes 11 concurrent technical conferences. Darrin Dodds, associate extension/research professor, serves as advisor to many of the students.

"Mississippi State is known for producing quality students. The performance of these students at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences is a testament to the hard work they put into their studies as well as their dedication to becoming the leaders of tomorrow," Dodds said. "These students and others like them continue to build the reputation of MSU in agriculture and beyond."

In the oral presentation category, MSU student winners included:

• Agronomy master's student, John Buol of Monroe, Wisconsin who placed first in the master's division of the Weed Science Research Conference;
• Entomology master's student John Corbin of Lambert, Mississippi who placed first in the master's division of the Insect Control Research Conference;
• Agronomy master's student Savana S. Davis of Pungoteague, Virginia who placed first in the master's division of the Agronomy, Physiology and Soil Research Conference;
• Entomology master's student Brittany Lipsey of Louisville, Mississippi who placed second in the master's division of the Insect Control Research Conference;
• Agronomy doctoral candidate Michael Plumblee of Lexington, South Carolina who placed second in the doctoral division of the Agronomy, Physiology and Soil Research Conference;
• Agronomy doctoral student Chase Samples of Ashland, Mississippi who placed second in the doctoral division of the Agronomy, Physiology and Soil Research Conference;
• Entomology doctoral candidate Ben Thrash, of Conway, Arkansas, who placed second in the doctoral division of the Insect Control Research Conference;
• Agronomy master's student Bradley Wilson, of Goldsboro, North Carolina, who placed second in the master's division of the Cotton Disease Council Conference and third in the master's division of the Agronomy, Physiology and Soil Research Conference.

In the visual presentation category, Davis placed first in the master's division of the Agronomy, Physiology and Soil Research Conference and Plumblee placed first in the doctoral division of the Agronomy, Physiology and Soil Research Conference.

Both plant and soil sciences and biochemistry, molecular biology, entomology and plant pathology departments offer a variety of graduate programs. For more information on plant and soil sciences, visit www.pss.msstate.edu. For more information on entomology, visit www.entomology.msstate.edu. MSU is Mississippi's leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.

Date: 2017-03-10