Lorman — Dr. Girish Panicker, director of the Center for Conservation Research has been inducted into the Hall of Fame for Agriculture by the authority of the American Biographical Institute for his dedication and efforts that have left an indelible mark on the lives of others.

Panicker has worked as assistant director of agriculture in soil survey and land use planning in India and principal inspector of agriculture for a United Nations project in West Africa before he came to the United States.

He earned his doctorate in horticulture from Mississippi State University with the Dr. Joseph B. Edmond Award for outstanding achievement in graduate school.

Panicker has represented the United States twice to deliver lectures on conservation research on horticulture crops at an international horticulture congress in Toronto, Canada, and Seoul, South Korea, in 2002 and 2006, respectively.

Panicker has served as a member of the agri-tourism task force committee of the Mississippi Development Authority, chairman of hte division of agriculture of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences and chairman of the national committee for publication awards of the American Society of Horticultural Sciences.

He has more than 80 publications to his credit and is a member of the American Society of Agronomy, Association of Scientist and Engineers for America, Soil and Water Conservation, American Society of Horticultural Science, International Society for Horticulture Science, Mississippi Academy of Sciences, Deep-south Fruit and and Vegetable Growers and the Association of Agriculture Scientists of Indian Origin.

He was recently appointed as a member of the advisory committee for the National Organic Research Foundation where he represents all the 1890 land grant universities.