Contact: Allison Matthews

STARKVILLE, Miss.—K. Raja Reddy is being recognized as Mississippi State University’s winner of the 2019 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award, which annually honors distinguished faculty from across the SEC.

The conference announced today [March 27] that Reddy, a research professor in the university’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, is among 14 faculty members from SEC universities to receive the prestigious award this year.

Nominated by their university’s provost, each award candidate must have amassed records of extraordinary teaching and nationally or internationally recognized scholarship.

Reddy is a scientist in the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and directs the university’s Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Research facility, discovering how environmental stressors influence agronomic crop processes. He also is a research fellow with the university’s Geosystems Research Institute. With interests in remote sensing applications in agriculture and crop modeling and applications, Reddy has pursued solutions to enhance food security for a growing global population.

“Dr. Reddy’s research closely aligns with my own academic interests, and I applaud the tremendous contributions he has made in his field,” said MSU President Mark E. Keenum. “Finding solutions to address world hunger is of the utmost importance, and much of that work is being accomplished by people like Dr. Reddy and colleagues at MSU and sister land-grant institutions.”

In addition to receiving a $5,000 honorarium, Reddy and other winners become nominees for the top SEC Professor of the Year Award. When announced next month, that person will receive an additional $15,000.

“We are so pleased that the SEC has chosen to recognize Dr. Reddy for his important contributions to teaching and research,” MSU Provost and Executive Vice President Judy Bonner said. “In addition to conducting ground-breaking research in his field, he is playing a vital role in preparing our undergraduate and graduate students to also become leaders as the next generation of scholars.”

Reddy earned his doctoral degree in botany with applied plant physiology from Sri Venkateswara University in India, along with bachelor’s and master’s degrees. As author or co-author of more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles, 70 proceedings, 30 book chapters and two books, his research informs his teaching.

Over the years, Reddy has overseen the graduate programs of 21 master’s and doctoral students. His undergraduate researchers and graduate students have earned more than 50 paper, presentation and professional awards. His scholarship has attracted visiting scientists from around the world, and he has trained more than 20 post-doctoral researchers.

The SEC Faculty Achievement and SEC Professor of the Year awards are administered by SECU, the academic initiative of the SEC. For more information, visit www.TheSECU.com. A complete list of SEC faculty award winners for this year may be found at https://www.thesecu.com/programs/sec-faculty-achievement-awards/faculty-....

For more on MSU’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, visit www.cals.msstate.edu and www.pss.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.