Musser Foundation selects Travis Russell and Dr. Devon Carroll as 2022 Award of Excellence recipients.
The Musser International Turfgrass Foundation has selected both Travis Russell and Dr. Devon Carroll as 2022 Award of Excellence recipients. The Musser Award is given to outstanding Ph.D. candidates who, in the final phase of their graduate studies, demonstrated overall excellence throughout their doctoral program in turfgrass research. In rare years where top candidates are equally excellent, the foundation makes two awards.
Russell received his B.S. degree in Horticulture, Landscape, and Turf Sciences at the University of Arkansas. He went on to earn his M.S. from University of Arkansas in Horticulture, where his thesis research focused on determining precise light requirements for golf course turfgrasses in the transition zone.
Russell is currently completing his Ph.D. in Agronomy at Pennsylvania State University. In May of 2022, Russell will start as the technical services representative for the golf and lawn care industry for Bayer Environmental Sciences Canada.
Dr. Devon Carroll received her B.S. degree in Turfgrass Science and M.S. degree in Agronomy focused in turfgrass at Penn State. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in Plant, Soil, and Environmental Science concentrated in weed science from the University of Tennessee. While at UT, she concurrently earned a second master’s degree in Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications focused on recruiting women to the turfgrass industry.
Post graduation, Dr. Carroll has continued her research career as a Development Scientist contractor with Bayer Environmental Science. Dr. Carroll plans to focus her future work on herbicide development and weed
management solutions. She also plans to continue supporting women in turfgrass through outreach and education.
The criteria for selecting award recipients includes graduate work, academic record, dissertation, publications, leadership, and extracurricular activities. To date, awards have been granted to doctoral students from universities including Arizona, Auburn, Cornell, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Michigan State, Rutgers, Tennessee, and Texas A&M.
Click here to read more about another pair of former Musser Award Recipients.
To learn more about the Musser International Turfgrass Foundation click here.