Tarek Hewezi receives the AgResearch Dean’s Professor Award
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture celebrated the accomplishments of some of its top faculty, staff, researchers and Extension experts at UTIA’s annual awards luncheon. The 2026 ceremony was held on the UTIA campus in Knoxville on August 4. Many of the awards are gifts made possible by faculty, alumni and friends of the institute.
UTIA Senior Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice President Keith Carver hosted the celebration and praised the honorees for their devotion to the land-grant mission. “Our UTIA staff and faculty continue to overwhelm me with their enthusiasm and unparalleled expertise,” he said. “I am always in awe of their dedication to providing Real. Life. Solutions. to the people of Tennessee. These award winners represent the efforts and accomplishments this past year that will most benefit all Tennesseans and society – impacts that will have lasting benefits through teaching, research and Extension for years to come.”
Tarek Hewezi, professor of plant molecular biology in the Department of Plant Sciences, received the AgResearch Dean’s Professor Award. The title of this honor recognizes highly productive and impactful faculty members at the rank of professor who demonstrate well-documented, consistent and outstanding research products and key program impacts.
“I am deeply honored to receive the AgResearch Dean’s Professor Award. This recognition reflects the dedication and hard work of my lab members, whose contributions have been essential to our success. I am grateful for the opportunity to lead a research program that advances scientific discovery while addressing critical agricultural challenges and developing innovative solutions that benefit growers, communities and society,” he said.
A UTIA faculty member for 13 years, Hewezi focuses his research on agricultural improvement through genetic research of plant microbe interactions, specifically the effect of cyst and root-knot nematodes on plant growth and development. He and his lab members are working to identify nematode and pest resistance in crops such as soybeans. This research is expected to determine cellular components of plant growth and defense signaling that directly or indirectly interact with each other. Interrupting this association will lay the foundation for new approaches to increase plant performance.
Hewezi is a previous winner of the AgResearch Impact Award, which is presented to an AgResearch faculty or professional staff member whose efforts have had a profound effect on improving the efficiency, sustainability and/or economic viability of the food and fiber industry of rural areas of Tennessee.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in crop sciences at Menoufia University in Egypt and his Ph.D. in plant biosciences from the Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse in France.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.