College Station, Texas
October 28, 2008
Monsanto Company has provided $750,000 to establish a
graduate assistantship fund in plant breeding at
Texas A&M University.
The Monsanto Graduate Assistantship Fund in Plant Breeding will
be matched by Texas
AgriLife Research and the university’s
College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences.
"Plant breeding is the primary foundation that allows us to
develop technology that increases yields and helps farmers
conserve natural resources," said Dr. Ted Crosbie, Monsanto's
vice president of global plant breeding. "This fund aims to help
provide Texas A&M University graduates with a solid background
for careers as leaders and professionals in the plant breeding
industry."
The fund will support up to 14 U.S. and international students
who are pursuing doctoral degrees in the area of germplasm
enhancement of agronomic and horticultural crops at the
university.
At least one assistantship from the fund will be for a soil and
crop sciences graduate student researching cotton improvement
and/or cotton production systems.
"Our partnership with Monsanto will help assure that we are
training our graduate students to meet the challenge they will
face in the real world," said Dr. Mark Hussey, interim dean of
the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M and
director of AgriLife Research.
Monsanto Co. is a leading global provider of technology-based
solutions and agricultural products that improve farm
productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains focused on
enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to produce
more from their land while conserving more of our world's
natural resources such as water and energy.
With an enrollment of almost 6,700 students in 14 academic
departments, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at
Texas A&M University offers more than 80 undergraduate and
graduate degrees and has a faculty of nearly 400 members,
including two Nobel laureates. Research programs include food
sustainability and safety, human and animal health, genetics,
renewable natural resources and bioenergy. .
A member of the Texas A&M University System, AgriLife Research
is the state's premier research agency in agriculture, natural
resources and the life sciences.
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