UT AgResearch Associate Dean Honored for Contributions to Land-grant Research and Mission
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tim Rials, associate dean of University of Tennessee AgResearch, is the winner of the 2025 Susan E. Duncan Meritorious Service Award from agInnovation South, the coalition of directors of state agricultural experiment stations in Southern states. The group is a regional coalition of the national Association for Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).
Rials was promoted to his current role in 2016 after serving as director of the UT Center for Renewable Carbon. He came to UTIA in 2001 after working for the U.S. Forest Service. His research focuses on the development of renewable chemicals, specifically advancing lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock for value-added fuels, chemicals and materials.
“This award recognizes your exemplary contributions and outstanding participation in the activities of the Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors. Through your work, you continually demonstrate a commitment to the regional association, enhancing the mission of the state agricultural experiment stations and the land-grant ideal,” said Scott Senseman, chair of agInnovation South. “Thank you, Tim, for your outstanding service and achievements that exemplify the goals of agInnovation South and land-grant institutions across the southern region.”
UT AgResearch Dean Hongwei Xin nominated Rials for the award. “It is great to see Tim recognized with this special honor. He has served agInnovation South in various capacities with distinction, such as administrative advisor of southern multistate projects, a contributing member of the agInnovation research roadmap committee, and as a passionate coordinator of grantsmanship workshop with Susan Duncan and Rick Bennett, of the Unviversity of Kentucky. Tim has been an invaluable asset to UT AgResearch and a trusted colleague,” Xin said.
The award, presented at the Southern Mini Land-Grant Conference on June 10, is named for Susan Duncan, associate director of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station and well-respected leader and professor at Virginia Tech who died in 2022. She earned her Ph.D. in food science from the University of Tennessee.
“Susan was a friend who I had a lot of respect for, making this recognition that much more meaningful to me,” Rials said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the mission of agInnovation South and look forward to continuing our collaborative efforts to advance agricultural innovation and sustainability.”
UT AgResearch is the name of the agricultural experiment station in Tennessee, which is a part of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. The federal Hatch Act of 1887 established funding for research to be conducted at the stations, which are overseen by land-grant universities in the 50 states, District of Columbia and U.S. territories. Certain states have more than one land-grant institution as a result of additional legislation in 1890, and some western and plains states have several land grant institutions because of the 1994 federal land-grant legislation for tribal colleges.
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.