USDA research leader gets first-hand look at 91传媒 research capabilities
Contact: James Carskadon
![91传媒 President Mark E. Keenum visits with Chavonda Jacobs-Young, administrator of the USDA鈥檚 Agricultural Research Service, during a Tuesday [Dec. 12] visit to Mississippi State. (Photo by Megan Bean)](/sites/www.msstate.edu/files/inline-images/Jacobs-Young_Chavonda-USDA_Research_Service-w_KeenumUSDA_Research_Service-w_Keenum_20171212_M4B8320HALF.jpg "Mark E. Keenum visits with Chavonda Jacobs-Young.")
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擟havonda Jacobs-Young, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture鈥檚 Agricultural Research Service (ARS), visited 91传媒 Tuesday [Dec. 12] to tour the land-grant institution鈥檚 advanced research facilities.
Jacobs-Young met with university agricultural research leaders and 91传媒 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 鈥淪outh Farm.鈥
鈥91传媒 has maintained a wonderful working relationship with the Agricultural Research Service at USDA for decades,鈥 Keenum said. 鈥淲e 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鈥檙e 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 State.鈥
As ARS administrator, Jacobs-Young is responsible for leading the organization鈥檚 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 Programs, which manages the agency鈥檚 research objectives, and the Office of International Research Programs, which is responsible for ARS鈥 liaison with its international partners. The Georgia native holds a master鈥檚 and doctoral degree from North Carolina State University.
91传媒 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, 91传媒 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 91传媒, 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.
鈥淚鈥檝e 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,鈥 Keenum said.
The ARS finds solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table. For more, visit .
91传媒 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .