Engelke Receives Awards Recognition  

Dr. Milt Engelke, a professor and Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (TAES) Faculty Fellow with Texas A&M University, has been honored recently by three prestigious organizations.  He was inducted into the Oklahoma Turfgrass Foundation Hall of Fame and named Fellow by the Agronomy Society of America (ASA) and the Crop Sciences Society of America (CSSA).

Engelke is the leader of the statewide Turfgrass Genetic Improvement Team within the Texas A&M University System that has developed and released cultivars of improved annual ryegrass, bentgrass, buffalo grass, St. Augustine grasses, zoysia grasses and Texas Bluegrass hybrids for use worldwide.
            Breeding goals target influences on plant performance, development of disease and insect resistance, as well as physiological stresses influencing the plants ability for rapid establishment.  He utilizes molecular technology to more precisely define the
genetics of the factors controlling plant performance, including genetic mapping,
developing marker assisted selection procedures, gene identification, isolation, insertion and implementation.
            Engelke earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
            The Agronomy Society of America chose 21 individuals from its 8,000 members, based on their professional achievements and meritorious service, to receive this honor in 2006. The Crop Science Society chose 10 individuals to receive this honor in 2006.  The award is the highest honor awarded by the organizations.