IFAS News

University of Florida

IFAS News RSS Feed

Category Archives: Departments

Food, sustainability and climate change experts to speak in Gainesville April 2-3

Topic(s): Agriculture, Announcements, Departments, Environment, Green Living, IFAS, Research, Weather

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida will host a climate symposium April 2-3 that will feature leading authorities on food, sustainability and climate change.

Registration has closed for the event, but members of the media are welcome to attend. It is being held at the Reitz Student Union on campus. The last two sessions on April 3, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., are open to anyone, regardless of registration. For more information, please see agenda here: http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/landgrant/agenda.pdf.

Called Sustaining Economics and Natural Resources in a Changing World: Key Role of Land-Grant Universities, the symposium will address the impact land-grant institutions and their research have had on food security and agricultural production; infrastructure and transportation; energy; sustainable development and resource policies.

(more …)

UF agricultural economics professor wins lifetime achievement award

Topic(s): Announcements, Departments, Honors and Appointments, IFAS

charles_moss

Click here for high resolution version. Caption at bottom.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Charles Moss, a professor in the University of Florida’s food and resource economics department, recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Agricultural Economics Association.

The award was presented at the association’s annual meeting in Orlando earlier this month.

(more …)

UF/IFAS students awarded at recent agronomy, soil science meeting

Topic(s): Agriculture, Announcements, CALS, Departments, IFAS

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Five University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences students received awards during a recent agronomy and soil science conference held last month in Cincinnati.

The conference, joint meetings of the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America, was attended by more than 4,000 people and included participants from land-grant universities across the U.S.

(more …)

UF student elected to president of national Future Farmers of America organization

Topic(s): Announcements, Departments

clay_sapp

Click here for high resolution version. Caption at bottom.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – University of Florida student Clay Sapp has been elected president of the national FFA organization, also known as Future Farmers of America.

Sapp, a junior in UF’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences’ agricultural education and communication department, received the honor during the organization’s national meeting last month in Indianapolis.

“It’s been a long journey, and I’ve learned a lot about myself and my leadership skills and abilities,” Sapp said. “I am really glad to have the opportunity to serve the members over the next year across the country.”

(more …)

UF-led team wins $1.7 million grant to help minority students earn microbiology degrees

Topic(s): Announcements, Departments, IFAS

Cutline at bottom. Click here for high-resolution image.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A team of University of Florida and Miami Dade College faculty members has won a five-year, $1.7 million federal grant to expand a distance-education program enabling MDC students to earn a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from UF.

The grant was announced in August by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education. The grant is part of an NSF effort to increase the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates, known as the STEM Talent Expansion Program.

“We believe this program will allow students to become science graduates who otherwise would be unable to do so for financial or cultural reasons,” said Eric Triplett, principal investigator for the grant and chairman of UF’s microbiology and cell science department, part of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “This is one of the very few science degrees available by distance education anywhere in the U.S. from a top research university.”

Launched last fall, the program is aimed at students from minority groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM disciplines. It’s based at MDC’s North Campus, where 90 percent of students are Hispanic or African-American.

(more …)

UF/IFAS scientists’ findings shed light on body’s iron-absorption process

Topic(s): Departments, Nutrition, Research

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Iron is a key mineral for human health. Too much of it in your body — or too little — can lead to major health problems.

University of Florida researchers have discovered that an iron-absorption process thought to happen only within cell membranes can also happen within the interior of iron-deficient rodents’ intestinal cells. The finding suggests there is at least one unidentified protein involved in iron absorption, and that it may help maintain proper iron levels in the blood by mediating iron extraction from the diet.

(more …)

UF researcher reduces allergens in peanuts using pulsed light

Topic(s): Departments, Food Safety, IFAS, New Technology, Research

Multimedia available: http://news.ufl.edu/2011/06/08/peanut-allergen-multimedia/

Cutline at bottom. Click here for high-resolution image.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida researcher has developed a new technique to make peanuts safer for people with peanut allergies.

Wade Yang, an assistant professor in UF’s food science and human nutrition department, used pulsed ultraviolet light, or PUV, to reduce the allergenic potential of peanuts by up to 90 percent. The study was published this week by the journal Food and Bioprocess Technology.

By releasing pulsed, or concentrated, bursts of light containing multiple wavelengths, PUV changes peanut allergens so that human antibodies can’t recognize them and cause the release of histamines, which are responsible for allergy symptoms such as itching, rashes and wheezing.

“We believe the allergen can be controlled at the processing stage, before the product even goes to the shelf,” Yang said.

(more …)

Rosemary Loria appointed chair of UF plant pathology department

Topic(s): Agriculture, Announcements, CALS, Departments, Environment, Extension, Honors and Appointments, IFAS, Invasive Species, Pests, RECs, Research

Rosemary Loria

 

Cutline at bottom. Click here for high-resolution image.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A Cornell University professor has been selected as chair of the University of Florida’s plant pathology department, UF officials announced today.

Rosemary Loria, a plant pathology professor at Cornell University, was named to chair the department by Jack Payne, UF senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources. She begins Aug. 19 and will also be a plant pathology professor.

Loria has been a faculty member at Cornell for more than 30 years and served as chair of Cornell’s plant pathology department for five years.

(more …)

Charles Steinmetz Hall dedication

Topic(s): Announcements, Departments, Entomology and Nematology, Environment, Families and Consumers, Honors and Appointments, Household Pests, IFAS, Invasive Species, New Technology, Pests

 

Stand-alone photo. Click here for high-resolution image

Charles Steinmetz, a retired pest management company owner, addresses the audience at a ceremony to rename the University of Florida’s entomology and nematology department building, at the UF main campus in Gainesville – Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Steinmetz and his wife, Lynn, recently donated $5 million to the department to support academic and research programs. In recognition of the gift, UF renamed the building Charles Steinmetz Hall. At the ceremony, Steinmetz reminisced about his undergraduate days at UF and some of his career milestones. UF/IFAS photo by Dawn McKinstry

Back to Top