LSU AgCenter scientist Prasanta Subudhi was awarded a $10M grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve the sustainability and profitability of rice farming. Subudhi, the lead investigator of the project and a crop geneticist in the School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, was awarded a grant through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The grant is part of a $70M investment from USDA to establish robust, resilient and climate-smart food and agricultural systems. It is the largest grant for rice research the AgCenter has ever received. The project seeks to improve the speed and accuracy of identifying rice genotypes with combinations of genes that improve adaptation to climate change.   


BR Health-Tech noms sought  

The Baton Rouge Health-Tech Catalyst, a local Health District project funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship — Build to Scale Program, - is accepting nominations for the 2023 Launchpad Innovation Pilot Awards. The goal of the awards is to promote and support collaboration between health district member institutions, while sparking innovation between health district anchor institutions, technology and community innovators, and industry leaders. Awards will provide up to $30,000 for health district member institution investigators, providers and employees. Requests for proposals will be accepted through noon March 31. For information and to access application materials, visit brhealthdistrict.com/launchpad.  


Speaker to talk NOLA start-ups 

The Association for Corporate Growth will hear from representatives from Jon Atkinson, the CEO of Idea Village, at 11:30 a.m. March 7 as part of its monthly speaker series. Atkinson will provide an update on the New Orleans startup community. The luncheon will be held at Restaurant August, located at 301 Tchoupitoulas St., in New Orleans. Admission is free for association members, $65 for non-members. To register, go to acg.org. (NOLA.com 03/05/23)