Faculty Expertise
Imagine a plant so valuable it helped shape the course of human civilization — a plant that has stitched together empires, economies and entire ways of life.
That plant is cotton.
Cotton remains one of the most widely used textile fibers in the world. In Georgia alone, cotton covers 1.1 million acres and continues to be the state’s top-grossing row crop, with a 2022 farm gate value of $1.31 billion. But its influence stretches far beyond clothing.
“What makes cotton especially interesting, even among major crops, is its dual purpose,” saidCamp Hand, a cotton agronomist forUniversity of Georgia Cooperative Extensionand a faculty member in theCollege of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “It’s both fiber and food.”
The term sustainability usually elicits ideas of a green planet, solar panels, electric vehicles, and plastic-free oceans.
However, this outlook—sustainability primarily focused on the environment—lacks a critical component that University of Georgia researchers are elevating in the realm of food systems and agriculture.
“All pillars of sustainability matter, but social sustainability can get left out of the conversation,” said Jennifer Jo Thompson, senior research scientist in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.
Drs. Taylor Singleton, Lisa Baxter, and Nick Shay represented the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at the 2025 ShowCAES recruiting event held at the UGA Tifton campus.
ShowCAES is an annual event sponsored by the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES). Potential students have the opportunity to learn about CAES academic programs, UGA admissions, and meet faculty, staff and current students.
Student Life
PBGG doctoral student Anita Giabardo (advised by CRSS professor Dr. Robin Buell) is one of two doctoral candidates at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) chosen for the eighth cohort of the prestigious Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) Fellows program, a three-year initiative designed to cultivate the next generation of food and agriculture research leaders.
The fellows will conduct research aligned with FFAR’s global challenge areas and engage in professional development designed to prepare them for leadership across academia, industry and government.
We are proud to share the outstanding achievements of our students who showcased their research and innovation at CANVAS 2025 — the premier gathering for crop, agronomic, environmental and soil science professionals.
This event, formerly known as the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America International Annual Meeting, brings together a vibrant community of researchers, scholars and practitioners to push the boundaries of agricultural and environmental science.
On November 13, 2025, Anshul, a master’s student in Crop and Soil Sciences at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UGA Tifton campus, won the 2025 UGA Three Minute Thesis Competition Grand Prize for her presentation, “Peanuts: The Uncrushed Oil Potential.”
3MT® is a highly engaging international research competition which requires participants to explain their thesis or dissertation topic and its significance in three minutes or less using only a single, static presentation slide.
Anshul is co-advised by Drs. Cris Pilon and Scott Tubbs.
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