'Promising' MSU graduate student named national Watson Fellow

Contact: Sammy McDavid

STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State graduate student is receiving a $5,000 fellowship awarded by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

Joseph R. "Joey" Young of Gardendale, Ala., is among three master's- and doctoral-level students whose selection for the national honor identifies them as "promising future teachers and researchers in golf course management."

Young is pursuing a master's degree in turfgrass pathology in the department of entomology and plant pathology. He is a 2006 summa cum laude graduate of the university in agronomy/golf and sports turf management.

His James R. Watson Fellowship is funded by the Toro Co. and the Environmental Institute for Golf. The award is named for a retired vice president of the Minnesota-based manufacturer of lawn-care products who pioneered in turfgrass research.

The son of Loyd and Dianne Young, Young is completing graduate studies under the direction of assistant research professor Maria Tomaso-Peterson.

As Watson Fellows, he and the other 2009 honorees also are receiving all-expense-paid trips to the 2009 GCSAA Education Conference and Golf Industry Show being held next week [Feb. 2-7] in New Orleans.

NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information, contact Dr. Tomaso-Peterson at 662-325-2593 or maria@pss.msstate.edu.

For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.