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.”
Scott Lenaghan, associate professor in the Department of Food Science, received the UT AgResearch Mid-Career Faculty Research Excellence Award. This award recognizes demonstrated commitment and meritorious achievements in research by faculty during the mid-stage of their academic career, and the honor emphasizes the impact of their research on UT AgResearch stakeholders and the science community at large, especially during the last five years.
Lenaghan has served in his current role for eight years and been at UT for 15 years. His research focuses on engineering biological systems, biomaterials and devices that utilize cutting-edge synthetic biology tools and approaches to provide solutions for global food security and biomedical sciences.
He joined the faculty as a postdoc and then research assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering at UT Knoxville. He then moved to the Center for Renewable Carbon to lead a project on single-cell biology and bioengineering. Lenaghan joined the Department of Food Science in 2016 and, in 2018, he founded and serves as the co-director of the Center for Agricultural Synthetic Biology along with Neal Stewart. In addition to his research, he currently teaches seminar and a course on molecular parasitology to introduce students to underrepresented pathogens that cause significant damage to the overall quality of life of humans and animals.
Last year, Lenaghan was a winner of the AgResearch Grantsmanship Award, and he was in the inaugural cohort of Smith Center Global Leadership Fellows in 2022. Lenaghan earned a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Auburn University.
“Since arriving at UT in 2009, I have enjoyed the opportunity to engage with researchers across campus and across disciplines to push the boundaries of what is possible,” he said. “I love the challenge of engaging in high-risk, high-reward research and pushing myself and my team to address critical issues related to Tennessee and abroad.”
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.