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.”
Qixin Zhong, professor in the Department of Food Science, is the first recipient of the inaugural AgResearch Dean’s Professor Award. The title “AgResearch Dean’s Professor” 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.
Zhong has been in his current role for 10 years and 19 years overall at UTIA. His research focuses on the science and technology of food ingredients that improve food quality, safety and healthfulness. He has studied how to combat foodborne pathogens in fresh produce, polyphenols as anti-cancer agents, probiotics, protein beverages, and emulsions, among others. A fellow with the Institute of Food Technologists, Zhong has secured more than $38 million in research grants and has authored 213 refereed publications since joining UTIA. He also has been an advisor to the Food Science Club, coached national college bowl winners and mentored many students including advising 13 post-doctoral research associates, 15 completed PhD dissertations, and 11 completed master’s theses.
“It is a great honor to receive the AgResearch Dean’s Professor Award. I truly appreciate the support from UTIA and the hard work of outstanding colleagues, post-docs, graduate students, and visiting scholars that I have had the pleasure of working with in the past 19 years at UTIA,” he said.
Zhong earned his Ph.D. with double majors in food science and chemical engineering at North Carolina State University, where he was honored as the 2013 young alumnus for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
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.