Members of the UNL community who were featured in award announcements between March 14-26 include Jenni Brost, Edgar Cahoon, Justin Lepard and Jim Specht. More information on each achievement is listed below.

Faculty/Staff

• Jenni Brost, assistant director of New Student Enrollment, was named the Outstanding New Orientation Professional during the NODA Region V conference in Madison, Wisconsin. This award recognizes a new orientation, retention and transition professional who has demonstrated service to the orientation, retention and transition profession. For more information, click here.

• Edgar Cahoon, a professor of biochemistry and director of the Center for Plant Innovation, was named a Yangtze River Scholar by the Chinese Ministry of Education. The award is China’s most prestigious scholarly honor and acknowledges special contributions made by scientists and scholars. Candidates for the honor must have achieved outstanding international recognition in their research field. For more information on Cahoon’s research interest, click here.

• Jim Specht, emeritus professor of agronomy and horticulture, has received the American Soybean Association’s Special Meritorious Service Award. The award honors individuals who served the soybean industry above and beyond the ordinary and devoted a major portion of their career to the soybean industry. Specht’s work led to major advancements in soybeans, including findings that earlier planting dates are crucial to achieving higher yields. He was also instrumental in DNA sequencing for generating higher seed yields, and was a leader in water management research and soybean yield response. For more information, click here.

Students

• Hattie Bestul, a junior music performance major, was named winner of the “Play with the Chiaras” audition. Bestul will perform the Brahms Clarinet Quintet with the Chiara String Quartet during the Hixson-Lied Concert Series at 7:30 p.m. April 10 in Kimball Hall. Bestul studies with Diane Barger, professor of music. The “Play with the Chiaras” competition was developed in 2007 to offer students in UNL’s chamber music class the chance to collaborate with the quartet. For more information, click here.

• Justin Lepard, a senior cello performance major, is one of 10 musicians selected to premiere a new work by composer Tod Machover during a fall tour of Switzerland and a March 2016 tour of Europe. Machover is is the head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Opera of the Future group. Lepard met Machover when he participated in the 2014 Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland. For more information on the award, click here.

This column is a regular feature of UNL Today. Faculty, staff and students can submit their achievements to be considered for this column via email to achievements@unl.edu. For more information, call 402-472-8515.