Amit Jhala was honored with Outstanding Mid-Career Extension Award by Nebraska Cooperative Extension Association during the NCEA annual conference in Kearney, Nebraska, Nov 15, 2023. Jhala is a professor, associate department head and Nebraska Extension weed management specialist in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Jhala completed his bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Gujarat Agricultural University in 2000 and his master’s in weed science from Anand Agricultural University in 2003. In 2009, he completed his doctoral degree in plant science and weed science from the University of Alberta.
Jhala began his career in weed science research and extension at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Florida working on vegetables, fruit crops and citrus orchards.
In 2012, Jhala began his career at Nebraska as an assistant professor and extension weed management specialist with 50% research and 50% extension appointment. In 2018 he was promoted to associate professor and in 2023 promoted to professor.
Jhala is known world-wide for his research on pollen-mediated gene flow from herbicide resistant crops and weeds. His research focuses on weed biology, pollen-mediated gene flow and management of herbicide-resistant weeds.
“Amit has developed an outstanding weed science research and extension program,” said Robert (Bob) Klein, emeritus professor and Nebraska Extension crops specialist at West Central Research, Extension and Education Center in North Platte. “He successfully translates research projects into extension programs with demonstrations to clientele at field days and develops articles, videos and publications that are timely, pertinent and address real world problems faced by growers in Nebraska and other states.”
Jhala is committed to mentoring students, graduating eight master’s and five doctoral students so far.
He has published papers in high impact journals such as Nature Scientific Reports, The Plant Journal, Crop Science, Heredity, Weed Science, Pest Management Science and Weed Technology. Publication credits include 12 book chapters, 145 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and 165 extension articles.
Jhala’s weed science extension program reaches several thousand clientele in Nebraska and beyond each year to solve weed-related problems in corn, soybean, sorghum and popcorn. His team demonstrates trials of new herbicides, multiple herbicide-resistant crops and how to manage herbicide-resistant weeds. These events, attended by growers, crop consultants, industry representatives and Nebraska’s commodity board members, provide unbiased information about weed control.
He has received numerous prestigious awards including Weed Science Society of America Outstanding Early Career Weed Scientist Award, WSSA Outstanding Reviewer Award, North Central Weed Science Society Distinguished Achievement Outstanding Young Weed Scientist Award, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Superior Paper Award, Canadian Journal of Plant Science Outstanding Associate Editor Award, Gamma Sigma Delta Award of Merit in Extension, Nebraska Cooperative Extension Association Award of Excellence in Individual Extension Program, and Epsilon Sigma Phi Outstanding Early Career Extension Leadership Award.
The Nebraska Cooperative Extension Association is the professional organization for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Division. NCEA is the state-wide umbrella organization that connects local extension personnel to national organizations related to their field of work. NCEA promotes professional improvement by providing scholarships, awards and leadership opportunities, and cultivates relationships between extension colleagues necessary for optimum work on Extension teams. NCEA has representation on the Nebraska Association of County Extension Boards, the Nebraska 4-H Foundation and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Faculty Senate giving extension faculty and staff one strong voice.
More information about Jhala's research and extension work is at https://agronomy.unl.edu/jhalalab.
