Amit Jhala honored with distinguished achievement young weed scientist award

November 1, 2016

Lincoln, Neb. — Assistant Professor and Extension Weed Management Specialist Amit Jhala has been honored with the Distinguished Achievement Young Weed Scientist Award from the North Central Weed Science Society of America. This award recognizes outstanding contributions made by young weed scientist in research and/or extension in the north central region.

Jhala has been with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 2012 with a split appointment between research and extension in Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. His research is focused on the biology, gene flow and management of herbicide-resistant weeds, through which he is specifically interested in pollen-mediated gene flow from herbicide-resistant crops and weeds. Jhala is an early career scientist with 61 papers published/accepted in peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, he has published 11 book chapters. His paper published in Heredity (a journal of the Nature Publishing Group) about gene flow was not only recognized by the journal, but the paper led to a commentary published in the same issue of Heredity discussing the statistical methods used in the study to determine the minimum sample size needed to detect gene flow. Jhala has graduated two M.S. students and a Ph.D. student, in addition to supervising two Ph.D. students and two M.S. students as a major advisor and serving as a committee member for four other graduate students.

Jhala has developed a weed science extension and outreach program in the state of Nebraska that promotes a more sustainable corn and soybean production system by teaching the principles of safe and cost-effective weed management, primarily through the management of glyphosate-resistant weeds. He is a coordinator of crop production clinics that, on average, 1,500 to 1,800 clientele attend across nine locations in Nebraska annually. Jhala also organizes corn and soybean weed management field days and herbicide-resistant weed management field days. Jhala serves on the Board of Directors for the North Central Weed Science Society as the Chair of the Extension Section.

Jhala will receive the award at the 71^st North Central Weed Science Society’s annual meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 12-15.

To learn more about Jhala's research, visit http://agronomy.unl.edu/jhalalab.