Dallas turf breeder reelected to Texas A&M University System research council
Writer: Gabe Saldana, 956-408-5040, [email protected]
Contact: Dr. Ambika Chandra, 972-952-9218, [email protected]
DALLAS – Dr. Ambika Chandra, lead scientist of the turfgrass breeding program at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Dallas, has been reelected to a new three-year term representing Texas A&M AgriLife Research on the Texas A&M University System Council of Principal Investigators, or CPI.
The CPI serves as an interface between researchers across the university system and administrators to improve the research environment for students, faculty and staff, according to the organization’s website.
“Participation in the council is critical to representing the needs and concerns of off-campus principal investigators to promote the overall mission of AgriLife Research,” Chandra said. “It allows us to have our voices heard on issues or concerns hindering our ability to conduct research.”
Representatives to the CPI are elected by principal investigators of their respective member organizations in the university system.
Chandra’s new three-year term immediately follows the term she served from June 2014 – June 2017. She is joined representing the agency by AgriLife Research scientists Dr. Jamie Foster, forage management and ecology, Beeville, and Dr. Fugen Dou, crop nutrient management, Beaumont.
Chandra this June also received the 2016 Crop Science Society of America’s 2016 Citation for Excellence alongside four other recipients from across the U.S. and Canada. The award recognizes “outstanding professional commitment, excellent insights and comments that help maintain the high standard and quality of papers” published in Crop Science.
Chandra is associate editor of the scientific journal Crop Science, and was nominated for “thorough, competent and timely reviewing and editing” of the manuscripts submitted to the journal in the area of turfgrass science.
“It was a rigorous and fulfilling year,” Chandra said about 2016, the year for which she was recognized by the editorial board. “The work that appears in these publications expands our scientific understanding of matters that will help us secure the future in so many different ways. I take it very seriously.”
