Welcome to the start of the fall 2022 school year! Here in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, we are excited to usher in a new class of freshmen and transfer students. Last week, Student Housing and several volunteers moved in 6,500 new and returning students into the resident halls. While COVID-19 continues to move through our communities, we’ve learned to adapt, grow and accept this shift in our world, and it is heartening to see our campus humming with activity and our students and colleagues settling into comfortable routines. This past summer, we encouraged faculty and staff to take well-earned breaks, and we hope people were able to reconnect with friends and family in ways that provided respite and meaning.

Even though the campus quieted down over the summer, our community was still busy developing scientific solutions, winning awards and keeping our work moving forward. Recently, we were pleased to learn that U.S. News and World Report ranked the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering first in the nation for its undergraduate program! We celebrate this accomplishment with the College of Engineering and together we share in the commitment to advancing teaching, research and outreach in biotechnology, agricultural production, food quality and safety.

This fall, we celebrate several other accolades for our college community, including Associate Professor Frances Moore’s appointment as a senior economist with the Council of Economic Advisers in Washington, D.C. We also have an incredible amount of research to highlight from this past summer, including stories on how to reduce nitrogen fertilizers for cereal crops, the latest discoveries in identifying genes resistant to Fusarium wilt, the use of artificial intelligence to help farmers better manage their dairy herds, the connections between nutrition, proteins and nitrogen pollution in water systems, and the fact that now is the best time to clean out your barn owl nest boxes if you have them.

As we all settle into the new school year, I hope to see many of you in person enroute to favorite campus spots and/or via Zoom. I am especially appreciative of the vital tools that have kept us all connected and productive in this new era.