UT Institute of Agriculture Presents Top Faculty and Staff Awards for 2024
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 and promotions luncheon. This year’s ceremony was held in the newly-opened Agriculture and Natural Resources Building on the UTIA campus in Knoxville on August 14, 2024. Many of the awards are gifts made possible by faculty, alumni and friends of the Institute.
UT Institute of Agriculture Senior Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice President Keith Carver hosted the award winners and praised them for their work. “I continue to be amazed by the dedication, enthusiasm and expertise demonstrated by the impressive work of our UTIA faculty and staff,” says Carver. “The awards are well deserved, and the impacts of these accomplishments are seen across the state and will benefit Tennesseans for generations.”
Juan Luis Jurat-Fuentes, professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, received the AgResearch Impact Award and the Smith Center for International Sustainable Agriculture UTIA Faculty Global Lifetime Achievement Award. The research award is presented to a UT 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. The Smith Center recognizes a faculty member who has made significant and sustained contributions in teaching, research and/or extension across their UT career in support of the UT’s global vision of a world enriched by the power of ideas, made better through action. This award winner is committed to producing innovative global research and teaching, engaging meaningfully with existing partners and developing new long-term partners, and fostering lifelong engaged learning among UT students, UT alumni, and Tennesseans.
Jurat-Fuentes, who has served seven years in his current role and 18 years overall at UTIA, specializes in insect pathology and physiology, and his research focuses on the insect digestive system as a target for developing novel and safer bioinsecticides and enzymes to digest plant biomass during ethanol biofuel production.
During his tenure, he has won several awards from UTIA, the university, and academic and professional associations and organizations. Jurat-Fuentes said he values working with students, scientists, and farmers from the US and abroad in developing technologies to reduce the negative impactof insects on food and fiber crops and to utilize insect enzymes for energy production. “My most memorable accomplishments have come when our work has had a real-life impact,” he said.
“I am honored and humbled by these awards, which recognize the support of administrators and colleagues, and long hours of hard work with an amazing team of students, postdoctoral researchers, our laboratory manager, and visiting scientists which I have been fortunate to mentor and work with over the years,” Jurat-Fuentes said.
Jurat-Fuentes earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and master’s degree in genetics from the University of Valencia in his home country of Spain. He earned his PhD in entomology at the University of Georgia.
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.