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Bugbee Part of Team Receiving NASA Achievement Award

Utah State University botanist and Society member Bruce Bugbee was part of the team that successfully conducted a five‐year, $15 million NASA‐funded multi‐institution project exploring what it will take to sustain humans on Mars. NASA recognized the team’s efforts April 24 with an agency Group Achievement Award. The recognition is one of 14 NASA Honor Awards bestowed annually.

Bugbee was among the principal investigators, appointed in 2017, for the Center for Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES) Space Technology Research Institute (STRI). The center, whose partnering institutions include the University of California–Berkeley, the University of Florida, Stanford University, and the University of California–Davis along with Utah State, is aimed at supporting biomanufacturing for deep space exploration.

Lynch Named Top Scientist by Research.com

Jonathan Lynch, a distinguished professor of plant nutrition at Penn State and a CSSA member, has been named recipient of Research.com’s Plant Science and Agronomy Leader Award for 2024 and is included in the academic platform’s 2024 Ranking of Best Scientists in the Field of Plant Science and Agronomy. Lynch, whose research has focused on understanding the genetic, physiological, and ecological basis of plant adaptation to drought and low soil fertility, is ranked by Research.com as number 34 in the world and number 7 in the United States.

To determine the rankings, Research.com evaluated the records of nearly 3,500 scientists worldwide, and rated them using several indicators and metrics such as citations and awards.