USDA research leader gets first-hand look at ��ӽ紫ý research capabilities

��ӽ紫ý President Mark E. Keenum visits with Chavonda Jacobs-Young, administrator of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, during a Tuesday [Dec. 12] visit to Mississippi ��ӽ紫ý. (Photo by Megan Bean)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Chavonda Jacobs-Young, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), visited Mississippi ��ӽ紫ý University Tuesday [Dec. 12] to tour the land-grant institution’s advanced research facilities.

Jacobs-Young met with university agricultural research leaders and ��ӽ紫ý President Mark E. Keenum during her visit to Starkville. She also visited the College of Veterinary Medicine, High Performance Computing Collaboratory and the H.H. Leveck Animal Research Center, also known as “South Farm.”

“��ӽ紫ý has maintained a wonderful working relationship with the Agricultural Research Service at USDA for decades,” Keenum said. “We are truly honored to have the administrator of ARS here on our campus to tour our facilities, to see first-hand a lot of the important research that we’re doing for not only our state and our nation, but globally. It is indeed a distinguished honor to be able to host her and her distinguished delegation at Mississippi ��ӽ紫ý.”

As ARS administrator, Jacobs-Young is responsible for leading the organization’s chief scientific in-house research agency, a position she has held since 2014. Previously, Jacobs-Young had served as ARS associate administrator for national programs, where she led the Office of National ��ӽ紫ýs, which manages the agency’s research objectives, and the Office of International Research ��ӽ紫ýs, which is responsible for ARS’ liaison with its international partners. The Georgia native holds a master’s and doctoral degree from North Carolina ��ӽ紫ý University.

��ӽ紫ý is a significant higher education research partner of the USDA. According to a National Science Foundation analysis of federally financed higher education research and development expenditures, ��ӽ紫ý was among the top 20 colleges and universities receiving USDA research funding in fiscal year 2016. Keenum, who has made global food security a research priority during his tenure at ��ӽ紫ý, also chairs the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research Board of Directors, which receives support from the USDA. Jacobs-Young also serves on the FFAR Board of Directors.

“I’ve known Dr. Jacobs-Young for quite a number of years and I have immense respect for her as a scientist, an administrator and a leader of agriculture research,” Keenum said.

The ARS finds solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table. For more, visit .

��ӽ紫ý is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at .

��ӽ紫ý