By Fred Miller
U of A System Division of Agriculture
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station has honored five faculty and staff with Early Career Recognition of Professional Excellence Awards. The RoPE Awards recognize outstanding performance.
The Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Science
CAREER EXCELLENCE — The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station honored five faculty and staff with Early Career Recognition of Professional Excellence Awards. The awards honor employees who have sustained exceptional performance early in their careers. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)
The recipients are:
Classified Business and Administrative Support: Lisa Spurlin, administrative specialist, department of food science
Non-Classified Business and Administrative Support: Jenny Braun, project/program specialist, department of entomology and plant pathology
Classified Research Support: Richard Cyle Jones, research technician, Southwest Research and Extension Center
Non-Classified Research Support: Leo Bonilha Piveta, research scientist, department of crop, soil and environmental sciences
Faculty: Alejandro Rojas, assistant professor, department of entomology and plant pathology
The award recognizes full-time Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station employees who have sustained exceptional performance during their early careers, said Jean-François Meullenet, senior associate vice president for agriculture-research and director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
“Our faculty and staff are committed to the Land Grant missions of research, extension and education,” Meullenet said. “In this early chapter of their careers, this year’s RoPE Award recipients embraced our mission and are contributing every day to our charge to achieve scientific discoveries that benefit Arkansas citizens, expand agricultural sustainability and profitability, promote environmental stewardship, strengthen local and state economies and ensure a safe and nutritious food supply,” Meullenet said.
Meullenet said full-time employees in good standing with a majority experiment station appointment, and who have completed two to seven years of continuous service are eligible for the RoPE Award. Recipients receive a $2,500 award.
Lisa Spurlin joined the department of food science in 2021 and serves as the front desk receptionist. She is the first point of contact for students, faculty, prospective students and visitors and is credited by faculty and staff with creating a comfortable atmosphere that is fundamental for a diverse community.
Department head Jeyam Subbiah said Spurlin often steps up to fill a need when it arises, going beyond her assigned duties.
Spurlin provides a number of essential administrative services, including degree audits for graduate students, enrollment support, and submission of graduate forms to the Graduate School. She assists with travel arrangements, reimbursements and purchases for labs, tracking inventory and surplus items for the department and helping to organize events, interviews and meetings.
Jenny Braun joined the Division of Agriculture in 2018 and became fiscal manager for the department of entomology and plant pathology in 2020. She took over the duties at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when nearly everyone was working remotely. Her transition to the job was further complicated because the Division of Agriculture was transitioning to a new financial management system. The department had recently merged two previously separate departments into one, an enormous task that Braun managed expertly.
Braun managed more than 140 spending accounts, a task that department head Ken Korth said is complex because the funds are managed by several entities and come from multiple sources. These sources often come through very different systems that have varying policies. Braun oversaw spending on all the accounts, ensuring that fiscal policies are strictly followed and helped prepare regular reports and annual budgets. She also processed travel claims submitted by students, staff and faculty, and provided faculty researchers with regular accounting of balances and spending of their many grants accounts.
Braun has recently joined the experiment station business office, where she continues to serve with the utmost dedication and efficiency.
Richard Cyle Jones has been a research field technician at the Southwest Research and Extension Center near Hope for four years. Center director Daniel Rivera said Jones primarily works with the animal science program, but his expertise at welding and vehicle repair and maintenance makes him valuable across all the center’s programs.
In his nomination letter, Rivera said, “Cyle has a good deal of hands-on skil that make him indispensable to the research mission at SWREC. Studies involving high-risk, newly received cattle require personnel who are familiar with these types of animals and have the ability to evaluate the health of these animals. Cyle’s background with these types of animals make him the point person on these types of studies.”
Rivera said that Jones’ leadership experience as an Army veteran have made him instrumental in working with summer interns and part-time workers. He instills in them an understanding of how important research and record-keeping are to the success of the beef cattle research program.
In his letter, Rivera said, “During my tenure as director, Cyle has always stepped up and gone the extra mile regarding animal care and study management.”
Leo Bonilha Piveta began as a program associate in Distinguished Professor Jason Norsworthy’s weed science program in 2018 and transitioned to a research scientist appointment in 2022. Norsworthy’s research includes about 200 trials annually at seven locations. Piveta manages most trials in eastern Arkansas and assists in guiding 12 or more graduate students in their research endeavors.
“When I have a new student or hourly worker that needs training, I always make sure they are placed with Leo for the first few weeks of employment,” Norsworthy said in his nomination letter. “Leo is willing to put in the extra time and effort to ensure that a research project is completed correctly and timely.”
Beyond the fieldwork, Piveta goes above and beyond expectations when writing reports, research summaries and peer-reviewed papers, Norsworthy said. At the time of nomination, Piveta had authored or co-authored five peer-reviewed manuscripts, 17 research summaries and 93 abstracts. Norsworthy said the work is “a testament to his leadership within my program.”
Alejandro Rojas joined the experiment station research faculty in 2018 as an assistant professor in the department of entomology and plant pathology. Department head Ken Korth said in his nomination letter that Rojas has steadily built a strong program that has impact for Arkansas agriculture. His work has yielded an impressive output in publications and grant funding for research. He focuses on soilborne plant pathogens, greenhouse plant production and seed quality, addressing critical needs of Arkansas farmers.
Korth said Rojas is the lead investigator or co-investigator on more than $1.9 million in grant-funded projects. “This is an impressive total amount of funding,” Korth wrote, “but equally important is that it comes from a broad mix of sources ranging from federal to state levels.”
The funding, Korth said, illustrates how effectively Rojas’ work spans both applied fieldwork and fundamental laboratory research.
Besides being a productive researcher, Korth said, he is an effective mentor of younger scientists, currently advising five graduate students and four undergraduates in his lab. His students regularly earn awards for their mentored work at both state and national levels. Because of his reputation as both a scientist and teacher, Rojas is highly sought after by his peers to serve on their graduate student advisory committees. At the time of his nomination, Rojas was serving on 13 advising committees.
“I have had the good fortune to serve as his supervisor and watch him grow as an outstanding faculty member and contributor to the success of our department and institution,” Korth wrote. “In addition to being a skilled scientist and teacher, Dr. Rojas is simply an outstanding colleague and person. His drive and professionalism make him an excellent role model for students and a valued collaborator by other faculty and staff.”
To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch and on Instagram at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.