This prestigious award recognizes a tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the College of Agricultural Sciences whose significant accomplishments include exceptional and original agricultural research conducted at Penn State.

Who can submit a nomination for this award?

  • Anyone can submit a nomination for the Black award.

Eligibility Requirements

  • All College of Agricultural Sciences tenure-track or tenured faculty members on standing appointments.
  • Nominees must have their primary appointment in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
  • Past recipients are not eligible.
  • Only single faculty nominations will be accepted; group nominations will not be considered.

Nomination Requirements

  • Nomination Letter

    • Upload a unified PDF of the nomination package, including the following:
      1. Letter of nomination, including a summary statement of the relevance and importance of the contributions made by the nominee.
        • The research must have been published in professional journals, patented, or made available to other scientists and clientele in an appropriate manner. Initiative and success in securing research funds, where appropriate, will be among the criteria considered.
      2. The nominee's curriculum vitae.

  • Letters of Recommendation (optional)

    • You may also request up to two (2) additional letters of recommendation from colleagues.
      • Please notify the letter writers that they will receive the request for letters via the InfoReady system.
      • You will be able to view the reference letters once they are submitted. Upon submitting your nomination, your reference letter writers will receive an email containing a unique link to a web page where reference letters may be uploaded.

Nomination Deadline

NOMINATIONS ARE CLOSED

Selection Process

An award committee will be appointed by the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Education to select the recipient. The selection criteria will be based on evidence of exceptional and original research conducted at Penn State.

Recent Recipients

David Hughes

2024 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research

Andrew D. Patterson

2023 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research

Karen Fisher-Vanden

2022 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research

Jason Rasgon

2021 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research

Elizabeth Boyer

2020 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research

Kelli Hoover

2019 Alex and Jessie C. Black Awardee for Excellence in Research

Mark Guiltinan

2018 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research

Jason Kaye

2017 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research

David Eissenstat

2016 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research

Christina Grozinger

2015 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research

Awardees 1991 to the Present

Office for Research and Graduate Education

Address

217 Agricultural Administration Building
University Park, PA 16802-2600

Office for Research and Graduate Education

Address

217 Agricultural Administration Building
University Park, PA 16802-2600