Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Raghavan “Srini” Srinivasan as director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Blackland Research and Extension Center at Temple, effective September 1.
Dr. Srinivasan has been serving as interim director of the Blackland Center for a year, and he has been an important contributor to the center’s research for over 20 years.
During these two decades, the Temple sector has pursued close, sustained collaborations with international organizations, federal and state agencies, and the private sector. Through that work, the center has become an international leader for policy analysis and simulation models in agriculture and natural resources. Expertise and tools developed at the center have been utilized to improve decision-making in livestock production, early drought warning and range management in Texas, the U.S. and internationally. The center also provides analyses for estimating the nutritive value of pastures on Texas ranches.
Under Dr. Srinivasan’s leadership, we anticipate the Temple center to expand its system-wide analysis for increased, sustainable agricultural production with a reduced environmental footprint. Among the planned advances are:
- Improved models for enhanced recommendations for agricultural producers.
- New feeding trials.
- Remote sensing, spatial data management and artificial intelligence for precision agriculture.
- Prescriptive management recommendations for cropping, grazing and forestry.
- Refined models of weather anomalies and climate change.
- Tools for analyzing urban and suburban expansion.
- Tools for environmental regulation of natural resource use, quality and efficiency.
Dr. Srinivasan also directs the Spatial Sciences Laboratory at Texas A&M University and holds joint appointments with the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology and the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. He is a Regents Fellow and an AgriLife Research Fellow.
In line with his work at the Temple center, Dr. Srinivasan is known nationally and internationally for computational modeling of hydrology, water quality and spatial sciences problems. Dr. Srinivasan’s research has yielded long-lasting improvements in natural resource assessments and management options around the world. Among many other honors, he received the 2012 Norman Hudson Memorial Award from the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation for the development and worldwide application of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool, SWAT. He frequently travels abroad to teach workshops for students and professionals.
Dr. Srinivasan earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural engineering at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Tamil Nadu, India, and the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok. He earned a doctorate in agricultural engineering from Purdue University.
I am delighted Dr. Srinivasan will continue to direct the Temple Center and continue to expand the science base there. Please join me in congratulating him.
Thank you,
Patrick J. Stover, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor, Texas A&M AgriLife
Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Director, Texas A&M AgriLife Research