A College of Agriculture professor won an award for his significant contributions to the science of cotton genetics and cotton breeding.
David Weaver won the Cotton Genetics Research Award this year in New Orleans at the Beltwide Cotton Improvement Conference.
The award is given annually by the National Cotton Council.
According to Weaver, he’s done a lot of work in host plant resistance, which is understanding the relationship between cotton and particularly nematodes.
He looks for resistance in the plants to nematodes and he’s looked at the genes in different plants and how resistance affects other traits in cotton.
He said he’s worked on evaluating germ plasm on heat tolerance in cotton which he said is hard to do because you have to determine how plants operate to different temperatures. He said they have found some cotton that have better and higher levels that are resistant to heat than others. He also has to try to develop better cotton for production, mainly looking at the traits yield and fiber quality.
Weaver said that he was nominated by his colleague about November, and he didn’t think he would win.
“I was extremely gratified," Weaver said. "To me there’s no higher recognition than that given by your peers, people you know and work with and corporate with. You know they say some very nice things about you and it’s just very gratifying to know that somebody appreciates your work, appreciates what you’ve done as part of your career.”
Weaver said he thinks his accomplishment brings recognition to Auburn University as well as Alabama and what they, plant breeders, are doing in Alabama which brings recognition to Alabama. He also said that it recognizes that they are making a significant contribution at Auburn.
According to Weaver he grew up on a farm which made him interested in agriculture. He said as a kid he was interested in all types of science, so he sort of put the two together. He also said he has had some good mentors along the way.
“That’s one thing people tend to downplay, they don’t talk on it anyway as far as the influence their mentors may have had on them. I’ve had some good mentors; I’ve had some good role models at the University of Georgia where I got my BS and MS degrees in Agronomy and then when I went to Perdue, I had good mentors there,” he said.
Weaver also said that he became interested in plant breeding and decided he wanted to do that as an undergraduate at Georgia. He followed his way through graduate school and said he was fortunate enough to get a job at Auburn; a public institution which he said is hard to do.
According to Weaver he did his Master’s degree in cotton and his grandfather was a cotton farmer in Georgia and his uncle was a fairly known cotton breeder, which sort of influenced him some.
Weaver said his students are the future.
“The three missions of Auburn University are to teach, to do research and to do outreach in the communities. Teaching is part of that three legged stool and I’m really working with undergraduate students and graduate students, but I really enjoy working with undergraduate students because they are the future. They’re going to be the ones doing the things I’m doing in the future and we need to get them trained as best as we can and we have to get them impassioned about the work that we do because they’re going to be the next generations of cotton breeders, they’re going to face some pretty tough problems.”
“I’ve had students tell me that they went into the profession because of my class and they’re out there practicing and they’re doing what they do now and that gives me probably more satisfaction than anything else….to me that’s one of the biggest rewards that there is, that’s one of the biggest things you can do, to propagate your profession and to make people aware of it. “
Weaver said he tries to be a good colleague within the department. He also said that as a professor it is important to work with your colleagues and help them enhance their careers also. He said it can only make you look better in the long run.
Steven Hague, the announcer of the award, said that it was tough to keep quiet about Weaver winning the award when he found out.
According to Hague, Weaver always has a smile, but on the morning of the ceremony his smile was larger. He also said that from work interaction he was impressed by how Weaver’s students were a reflection of Weaver. He said Weaver and his students are a big and great representation of Auburn University.
“Many of us should try to emulate him," Hague said. "A lot of us in science aren’t very good at reaching out to people, and he is very good at that and reaching the message he is trying to deliver.”
John Beasley, one of Weaver’s colleagues, said he dreads the day Weaver retires. He said he is such an integral part of the department and loves his students.
Just working day to day his collegiality, his attitude even for someone who has been working at Auburn for over 30 years, he still is just as driven and just as excited to go to work each day as if it were his first day, said Beasley.
Weaver, according to his colleagues, deserved this award because he is a hard worker and is a beneficial part of Auburn. He takes pride in his work and represents Auburn well. According to his colleagues, he is a well-rounded individual who will be missed when he retires.
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