Onokpise named FAMU’s “Distinguished Researcher of the Year”

Interim Provost Rodner Wright, Professor Oghenekome U. Onokpise, and Interim President Larry Robinson

FAMU Professor Oghenekome U. Onokpise received the top honor during FAMU’s annual faculty research awards luncheon.

Interim President Larry Robinson and Interim Provost Rodner Wright presented Onokpsie with the Distinguished Researcher of the Year Award and $5,000. Onokpsie is a professor of agronomy, forestry, and natural resources who also serves as the associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Food Sciences. He is co-inventor along with James Muchovej for the U.S. Patent #8,278,248, Mycoherbicide for Controlling Cogongrass, issued fall 2012 semester.

Onokpsie’s other recent accomplishments include publishing a book entitled Rubber Seed: An African Scientist in the Amazon Basin and receiving the Stephen Spurr Award from the Florida Division of the Society of American Foresters.

FAMU also presented awards to the following professors:

Research Excellence Award: Kalayu Belay, professor of physics

Research Excellence Award: R. Renee Reams, professor of biochemistry

Research Excellence Award: Mehboob B. Sheikh, professor of plant biotechnology

Emerging Researcher of the Year: Selina F. Darling-Reed, assistant professor of pharmacology/toxicology

FAMU has held the Annual Principal Investigator Appreciation and Researcher of the Year Awards Luncheon for the past four years to celebrate the research productivity of its faculty.

“This occasion gives us an opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to all of FAMU’s principal investigators and to award a few selected ones, so they may receive public recognition for their outstanding research accomplishments, hard work and sustained efforts,” said K. Ken Redda, professor and acting vice president for research.