Stephanie Yarwood and Students
Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg
Environmental Science & Technology associate professor Stephanie Yarwood was honored this week with the 2023 regional Excellence in College and University Teaching Award for Food and Agricultural Sciences. This award was presented to Yarwood at APLU’s Annual Meeting in Seattle in recognition of her scholarship, exemplary pedagogy and dedication to teaching and student engagement, and includes a $2000 stipend to be used for improving teaching at the University of Maryland.
“We applaud the 2023 winners of the Excellence in College and University Teaching Awards for Food and Agricultural Sciences,” said Wendy Fink, Executive Director of the Academic Programs Section at APLU. “Through their dedicated and focused passion in mentoring and instruction, they serve as inspirational leaders for their students and other faculty striving to serve their students better.”
Yarwood is a first generation college student who initially intended to become a nature writer, but through her time as a student intern in a soil microbiology lab within USDA’s Agricultural Research Service she fell in love with research and teaching.
She received her Ph.D in 2007 from Oregon State University and now studies the microbial ecology of soils across many different ecosystems including agricultural, wetland, forest and urban. She seeks to understand how disturbances such as wetland restoration and agricultural management impact microbial communities and what implications those changes have to nitrogen cycling, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage. The broad goal of her research is to uncover information that can improve soil management and lead to a more sustainable future.
“I’m so thrilled and honored to receive this award from APLU and USDA,” said Yarwood. It’s a joy to watch our talented and dedicated body of students build knowledge and confidence for the future, and to know I’m playing a helpful role in that journey is very rewarding and inspiring.”
