For Anita Giabardo, agriculture isn’t just a field of study, it is a lifelong narrative that began in the vineyards of Northeastern Italy.
Growing up in Pordenone, Italy, Giabardo found herself captivated by the rhythmic world of viticulture. While her family did not come from a strictly farming heritage, her grandfather’s role as a vineyard manager provided a front-row seat to the industry.
“I was fascinated by the mechanization — seeing him maneuver a huge grape harvester was so cool,” Giabardo said. Beyond the machinery, it was the natural variation within the European wine grapes and the rich stories of the people working the land that sowed the seeds for her future career.
Congratulations to graduate student Ashmita Upadhyay of the Clevenger Lab on being named an FFAR Fellow for 2026–2029!
The FFAR Fellows Program, led by North Carolina State University, provides leadership training, professional development, and networking opportunities for PhD students studying food and agriculture-related sciences in the U.S. and Canada.
We're proud of our awesome graduate students and want to recognize their excellence!
The Institute for Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics has a vibrant graduate program that offers both a Master's degree and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics.
Professor Brian Schwartz has been honored as the Inventor of the Year at UGA’s 2026 Research Awards.
Schwartz is recognized for exceptional success in developing commercially impactful turfgrass cultivars that have transformed industry practice. As lead turfgrass breeder at UGA’s Tifton campus, Schwartz plays a central role in one of the world’s premier public warm-season turfgrass breeding programs
C. Robin Buell, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Chair in Crop Genomics at the University of Georgia, has been named the 2026 Southeastern Conference Professor of the Year, the conference’s highest faculty honor.
Buell becomes the fourth UGA faculty member to receive this award, which recognizes scholarly excellence and transformational impact in teaching, research and service at SEC institutions. UGA faculty have claimed three of the last five awards. An internationally recognized leader in plant genomics, bioinformatics and computational biology, Buell is a professor of crop and soil sciences in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Her work has been instrumental in the development of massive genomic datasets that are used by scientists worldwide to improve crop resilience and productivity.
Wayne Parrott, Distinguished Research Professor in the department of crop and soil sciences, director of the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics and interim director of the Center for Applied Genetic Technologies in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, along with Olin Rhodes (UGA Athletic Association Professor of Applied Ecology in the Odum School of Ecology and director of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory) have been named University Professor in recognition of their extraordinary impact on the University of Georgia.
In addition to teaching for almost 40 years in the department of crop and soil sciences, Parrott has played an instrumental role in shaping UGA’s study abroad programs. In the mid 1990s, he co-founded one of the university’s earliest study abroad programs, Agroecology of Tropical America. Parrott later served as chair of the risk management board for all UGA study abroad programs, helping the university establish core risk management protocols. He received the Study Abroad Director of the Year Award and Richard Reiff Award for Campus Internationalization in recognition of his enduring impact on UGA’s global initiatives.