By Faith Peppers
University of
Georgia

Five University of Georgia faculty received the prestigious D.W.
Brooks faculty awards for excellence Oct. 1 in Athens, Ga.

The annual awards ($5,000 each) recognize UGA College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences faculty who excel in
teaching, research, extension and county extension programs. An
award for international agriculture is given in even-numbered
years.

The 2002 winners are Robert Shewfelt, teaching; Daniel Fletcher,
research; John Baldwin, extension; Sidney Law, county
programming; and Gerrit Hoogenboom, international
agriculture.

The CAES sponsors the annual lecture and awards in memory of
D.W.
Brooks, founder and chairman emeritus of Gold Kist, Inc., and
founder of Cotton States Mutual Insurance Companies. Brooks was
an advisor on agriculture and trade issues to seven U.S.
presidents.

Seth Carus, senior research professor in the Center for
Counterproliferation Research at the National Defense
University,
delivered the 2002 D.W. Brooks Lecture, “Bioterrorism, Homeland
Security and the Food Supply.” The lecture and awards
presentations were in the Mahler Auditorium of the Georgia
Center
for Continuing Education.

Shewfelt, a food science
professor, was cited for his innovative approach to teaching.
He’s highly rated by students and considered a leader in
interactive education.

In his six years as a member of the UGA food science faculty,
Shewfelt has created and redesigned many of the food science
courses offered.

Fletcher, a poultry science
professor, has researched poultry production and processing for
25 years. His research has had a major impact on production,
processing and product export.

His research on the effect of environmental and biological
factors on meat color, muscle chemistry and egg quality has
changed the way producers manage poultry. The poultry industry
regards Fletcher as the foremost expert on slaughter methods and
their effects on meat quality.

He has received major poultry science awards, including the
American Egg Board Research Award, Poultry Science Association
Broiler Research Award, Poultry Products Research Award and the
highly prestigious Merck Award for Achievement in Poultry
Science. He also received the University of Helsinki Medal.

Baldwin, an expert in peanut
production,
has been responsible for developing and implementing a statewide
educational program in peanut production.

He has been an integral part of the Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus
team since its inception and has led the group relative to
agronomic matters. He conceived and developed the concepts of
twin-row and strip-till planting of peanuts to reduce production
costs and environmental impact.

Both cultural practices were added to the UGA TSWV Risk
Assessment Index as management components for peanut production.
This index, coupled with the development of TSWV resistant
cultivars, has preserved the peanut industry in Georgia.

Law has been an extension agent
for the
19 years, spending the last 15 of those years in Washington
County.

Due to its size and diverse agriculture, Washington County
demands a broad spectrum of educational programming. By
fulfilling the county’s educational needs, Law has distinguished
himself as an outstanding leader of agricultural projects,
events, activities and educational efforts.

Hoogenboom is an internationally
known
researcher in the development and application of crop simulation
models, decision support systems and agrometeorology.

He has coordinated the development of the Decision Support
System
for Agrotechnology Transfer since the early 1990s among various
national and international institutions.

DSSAT is a computer-based system that includes models for more
than 20 agronomic crops, data utility tools and application
programs for seasonal, crop rotation and spatial application of
crop models. Since 1994, more than 1,000 copies of DSSAT have
been sold and distributed to users in more than 90 countries.

Hoogenboom developed an automated weather monitoring network for
the CAES. This network has grown from three stations in 1991 to
more than 45 stations in 2002.