Faculty News
The Department of Crop and Soil Sciences continues to grow and thrive thanks to the exceptional work of our faculty, whose expertise, innovation, and commitment strengthen our teaching, research, and Extension missions. In this issue, we are pleased to highlight recent accomplishments, welcome new colleagues bringing fresh perspectives to our programs, and celebrate the advances that move our department—and the agricultural community we serve—forward.
New Faculty
In 2025, the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences welcomed four new faculty members whose expertise will bring fresh insight to our campuses. Their specialties—ranging from Precision Agriculture to Turfgrass Breeding and Weed Management to Soil Fertility—will enrich our academic and research initiatives.
Liang Dong
Professor, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar
Dr. Liang Dong joined UGA on August 1, 2025 and is the University of Georgia’s 19th and newest Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. Dr. Dong spent nearly 18 years at Iowa State, where he developed a reputation as a thought leader and innovator in sensors and precision agriculture.
His research has contributed to novel sensing and measurement techniques for real-time monitoring of soil conditions, plant health and environmental factors. These innovations have improved agricultural management practices and supported crop breeding efforts by facilitating the development of new cultivars with improved resilience to a range of stresses. Dr. Dong has a joint appointment was CRSS and Engineering.
Phillip Vines
Assistant Professor
Dr. Phillip Vines is a passionate and determined plant breeder, and his primary research objective is to develop superior seed-propagated turfgrass cultivars that can be used for home lawn, recreational, athletic field, and golf course turf throughout the world. Phillip’s experience includes breeding and evaluating turfgrasses for disease resistance, decreased input requirements, drought and salinity tolerance, and enhanced turf quality characteristics.
His research interests include exploring and developing advanced breeding methods that can be integrated with traditional breeding strategies to increase efficiency of cultivar development. Advanced breeding methods include, but are not limited to, classical genetics and genomics-based techniques for marker-assisted selection breeding strategies and high-throughput phenotyping techniques. These methods will be important components for a successful, modern turfgrass breeding program.
Ben Pritchard
Assistant Professor
Dr. Ben Pritchard is an applied turfgrass weed scientist based at the University of Georgia Griffin Campus. His research focuses on improving weed management strategies for managed turf systems, with particular emphasis on herbicide behavior in turfgrass, soil–herbicide interactions and optimizing control programs for warm- and cool-season species.
His work is designed to generate practical, science-based solutions for golf courses, athletic fields, home lawns, municipal areas, roadsides, and sod producers throughout the Southeast. Through a strong integration of research and extension, Ben translates field-based findings into actionable recommendations for industry professionals. He is committed to supporting the turfgrass and green industry through applied research, outreach programming, and student mentorship, with the goal of advancing effective, sustainable turfgrass weed management.
Douglas Amaral
Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
Dr. Douglas Amaral is an Extension Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition Specialist working to help growers make informed, profitable, and environmentally responsible nutrient management decisions. His Extension program focuses on nutrient stewardship and soil fertility management to improve fertilizer efficiency, maintain long-term soil productivity, and reduce nutrient losses from agricultural systems.
Dr. Amaral’s Extension and applied research interests include improving soil fertility and management; selecting crops with improved nutrient use efficiency; defining nutritional requirements of annual crops; evaluating fertilizer application technologies; and promoting environmentally sound fertilizer use practices. Dr. Amaral conducts field-scale research and on-farm trials and develops decision-support tools that translate applied research into practical, site-specific recommendations. Through Extension programming, his work supports growers, consultants, and agricultural professionals in building productive, resilient, and sustainable cropping systems.
Faculty Awards and Honors
We are incredibly proud of our CRSS Faculty and the outstanding work they do. Below are a few of the awards they’ve earned in 2025. Their dedication and excellence truly shine!
Congratulations to all the recipients mentioned here—and to all those whose achievements may not be listed!
Buell Elected to NAS
Crop and Soil Sciences Professor C. Robin Buell was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the organization announced on April 29.
Members are elected to NAS in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors a scientist can receive. With their elections, UGA now counts 17 current or former faculty as members of the prestigious academy.
Lisa Baxter
- Top 10 most-cited papers published in Journal of Plant Registrations in 2023 (Rios et al.)
- 2024 Editor’s Citation for Excellence as a Reviewer for Crop, Forage and Turfgrass Management (L.L. Baxter)
- 3rd Most Downloaded Article in Crop, Forage, and Turfgrass Management (Baxter et al.)
- Wiley Top Cited Article in 2023-2024 in Grassland Research (Baxter et al.)
Pam Knox
- Georgia Association of County Agricultural Agents Senior Specialist Award
Scott Monfort
- Georgia Peanut Distinguished Service Award from the Georgia Peanut Commission
Wayne Parrott
Jennifer Jo Thompson
- Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Award from UGA's Office of Research, and was promoted to Senior Research Scientist
Grants
Lisa Baxter and Taylor Singleton
- Georgia Farm Bureau Federation; Building Biosecurity in Forage Systems
Liang Dong
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Rapid-ICQP; Rapid Agentic Platform for Ag Biotic Stress Identification, Classification, Quantification and prediction.
Bob Schmitz (IPBGG), Co-PIs: Katrien Devos and Wayne Parrott
- Department of Energy; Advancing Gene Functional Analyses, Adaptation, and Regeneration in Upland and Lowland Switchgrass via Single-Cell Genomics
Ali Missaoui
- NIFA; Unlocking Forage Yield and Stand Persistence Potential of Alfalfa in Low pH Soils
Bob Stougaard and Nick Basinger
- Georgia Farm Bureau Federation; The Interacting Effects of Harrowing, Fertilizer and Herbicide use on Foxtail Control and Forage Productivity
Jason Wallace
- Georgia Corn Commission; Continuing Support for Georgia Locations in the Genomes to Fields (G2F) Initiative in 2026
Jason Wallace and Nino Brown
- Georgia Peanut Commission; Foundational Genotyping for Multipronged Breeding against Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) in Peanut