Academic Superlatives


The College of
Agricultural Sciences

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(Updated 2/09 by the College of Agricultural Sciences)

PIONEERING LEADERSHIP AND EXCELLENCE

    Penn State was the first American institution to confer baccalaureate degrees in agriculture, in 1861.

    Henry Armsby built the respiration calorimeter in 1899 to measure the net energy value of livestock feed. His groundbreaking research in the early 20th century helped lead to animal feeds with greater nutritive value.

    With the 1910 appointment of A.B. Ross in Bedford County, Penn State Cooperative Extension had the nation's first county extension agent. We have the oldest and largest mushroom research and educational program in the country, helping Pennsylvania become the No. 1 source of domestic mushrooms.

    Animal Scientist John Almquist pioneered research on animal fertility at Penn State. His Dairy Breeding Research Center became a major force for reproductive physiology and artificial insemination development in the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the techniques for livestock improvement have also been applied to other species, including humans. For his work, Almquist won the prestigious Wolf Prize in agriculture, regarded as the agricultural equivalent of a Nobel Prize.

    The Ice Cream Short Course is the oldest and best-known ice cream production course in the world. From its humble beginning in 1924, it has now attracted more than 4,200 participants representing every state in the nation and every continent except Antarctica.

    Nittany Lion Red -- the first commercially successful geranium grown from seed -- was developed by Penn State researchers Dick Craig and Darrel Walker in 1965. It was the first open-pollinated cultivar that is true to type from seed, and this opened up a whole new era in geranium production.

    PS Power Play -- a Penn State-bred Angus bull born in 1972 -- left an unprecedented mark on the Angus breed. Two decades of worldwide sales of Power Play's semen earned more than $2 million. An estimated 20 percent of the world's black Angus cattle count him as an ancestor. The College of Agriculture was a pioneer and national model for utilizing a statewide computer network, databases and e-mail to deliver research and educational information to clientele. Pennsylvania Extension Network (PENpages), which preceded the Web, allowed access to Penn State resources from home and business computers.

    The College's E. coli Reference Center is the largest repository for E. coli bacteria strains in America. It holds more than 70,000 strains collected over the last 50 years from animals, humans, birds and the environment, providing a valuable repository for research, monitoring and testing.

    We house the premier public agricultural analytical laboratory in the United States , testing more than 60,000 samples each year from 45 states and Puerto Rico, including research samples from more than 30 universities.

    The College of Agricultural Sciences has the largest scholarship program in the University, awarding over $1.8 million annually to more than 650 students.

    We are home to the largest undergraduate food science program in the East, and the second largest in the country. The Berkey Creamery is the largest university-run creamery in the United States.

    We have the largest turfgrass program in the nation. Turfgrass varieties bred at Penn State are found on 90 percent of the world's golf courses.

DEVELOPING SOLUTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

    College scientists are at the forefront of the effort to identify the cause or causes of Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious ailment that has decimated honey bee colonies across the country. Our research and extension programs are helping to enhance honey bee health and ensure pollination services for crops that account for one-third of our diet.

    A rapid diagnostic test for avian influenza developed by Penn State veterinary scientist Huanguang Lu was used to help curb a 2001 avian flu outbreak in Pennsylvania, potentially saving the state's poultry industry tens of millions of dollars.

    College geneticists are helping develop blight-resistant American chestnut trees to re-populate Pennsylvania forests with this once-dominant hardwood species. Penn State researchers developed a Web-based disease forecasting system that was adopted nationally by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to predict the potential for Asian soybean rust, an exotic disease that threatens the nation's soybean crops. The system has since been adapted and expanded to forecast the likelihood of various insect and disease outbreaks, helping growers protect their crops and reduce pesticide use.

    Penn State is the lead institution on a multi-million-dollar international research and education project aimed at promoting animal biosecurity and mitigating losses from Johne's disease in livestock. Johne's disease, which is estimated to cost producers up to $500 million in the United States, also may be associated with Crohn's disease in humans.

    College research is leading to solutions for the reduction of odors and gaseous emissions from agricultural facilities, including livestock and mushroom operations.

    The College has one of the world's foremost research groups in the emerging field of chemical ecology, which holds great promise for environmentally friendly pest management. College scientists also are developing sensors using insect antennae to detect explosives, drugs or toxins.

    One of our chemical ecologists, entomologist James Tumlinson, in 2008 was named the College's second recipient of the Wolf Prize in agriculture, regarded as the agricultural equivalent of a Nobel Prize. He was honored for his research on the chemically mediated interaction between plants and insects that has "fostered the development of integrated pest management and significantly advanced agricultural sustainability."

    Our faculty and staff are developing geospatial technologies, such as geographic information systems and global positioning systems, to aid in digital mapping of farm operations and community infrastructure. The aim is to improve responses to livestock disease outbreaks and other bio-emergencies.

    College researchers were the first to show that high-frequency, noncontact ultrasound can kill bacteria such as anthrax. This approach may lead to methods for decontaminating surgical equipment, food, mail, or the air handling systems in buildings and airplanes.

    Researchers and extension educators in the College's Biomass Energy Center are working to develop and promote alternative energy sources that are renewable, environmentally friendly, and that expand markets for agricultural products. These include oilseed-based biodiesel fuel and hydraulic fluid, cellulosic ethanol, waste plastic, and wind power.

    In light of research showing that the geological formation known as the Marcellus shale could contain $1 trillion worth of recoverable natural gas, Penn State Cooperative Extension has taken a lead role in helping landowners, communities, conservationists, and government agencies make sound decisions regarding natural gas exploration and extraction. Extension educational programs and materials address gas-rights leasing, water quality and quantity, forest impacts, land use, economic development, and other issues.

A SAMPLING OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS/INITIATIVES

    The Penn State Feed Particle Separator, built in 1993 by dairy nutritionist Jud Heinrichs and agricultural engineer Dennis Buckmaster, has become one of the most frequently used on-farm forage and feed analysis tools, changing dairy nutrition around the world.

    Plant geneticist Majid Foolad has developed the Penn State Cherry Tomato, a variety with high levels of nutritionally beneficial lycopene that resists tomato diseases common in Pennsylvania. Research in the College continues to lay the groundwork for state nutrient management regulations that have helped to improve water quality in the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay. The College's Environment and Natural Resources Institute and its Agriculture and Environment Center serve as focal points for research and extension programs aimed at bringing science to bear on environmental issues.

    About 16 million acres of state-owned Pennsylvania forestland are being better managed based on sustainable forestry research conducted in the College.

    Pennsylvania is the top chocolate-producing state in the nation in part due to the College's research and outreach initiatives. The cocoa research program is supported by a $1.5 million endowment from the chocolate industry to study the molecular biology of cocoa.

    Food safety research and extension efforts in the College are contributing to improvements in the safety of our food supply, from farm to table. For instance, the Egg Quality Assurance Program, largely developed by Penn State poultry scientists, helped lead to significant reductions in Salmonella in the state's flocks and eggs.


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