A retirement celebration honoring Tom Clemente and Shirley Sato will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, June 23, in the Beadle Center atrium. Colleagues, students, and friends are invited to attend and celebrate the impact of their careers. Hawaiian shirts are encouraged, and refreshments will be served.
Clemente and Sato co-founded and led the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Plant Transformation Core Research Facility (PTCRF) in the Beadle Center beginning in 1996.
Clemente, the Eugene W. Price Distinguished Professor of Biotechnology in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and director emeritus of the PTCRF, is recognized for significant contributions to plant biotechnology. His achievements include helping develop dicamba-tolerant Xtend crop system technology and earning the 2023 Prem S. Paul Innovator of the Year Award. Clemente was selected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2019, named the Nebraska Wheat Growers Association Person of the Year in 2014, and received the Larry Tonniges Research Achievement Award in 2024.
Sato, a plant transformation expert and former Monsanto researcher, has served as PTCRF research technologist and lab manager for nearly three decades. In 2022, she received an Exemplary Service Award from the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, honoring her sustained contributions to the university.
Together, Clemente and Sato have advanced crop improvement through modern biotechnology tools, generating more than 100 publications, multiple patents, and millions of dollars in grant and industry funding. Their research led to the development of dicamba-resistant crop lines, later licensed to Monsanto and Bayer. Beyond their scientific accomplishments, both have mentored and inspired generations of students, staff, and postdoctoral researchers during their 29-year careers at Nebraska.
