STONEVILLE, Miss. -- Jeff Gore, a long-time Mississippi State University entomologist and researcher, has been named interim head of the MSU Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville.

Gore, an entomologist with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the MSU Extension Service, will begin this position Nov. 16, 2021, serving up to one year in a management and supervisory capacity at the center. He has been stationed at the Delta center since 2007.

He replaces Steve Martin, who served as interim head of DREC for two years and is returning to his primary role as associate director of the MSU Extension Service on the main MSU campus.

“Dr. Gore is an accomplished research and Extension professor and an excellent scientist and leader who has developed an outstanding reputation in the Delta region and the nation,” MSU Extension Director Gary Jackson said in announcing the appointment.

Keith Coble, vice president of the MSU Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, described why Gore is ideally equipped to lead in this interim capacity.

“His work at DREC and involvement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, with stakeholder groups, agricultural business and industry, producers, and other MSU faculty and staff make him an ideal choice to serve in this role,” Coble said.

The Delta Research and Extension Center focuses most of its attention on activities to improve cotton, rice, soybean, corn and catfish production. Research and Extension faculty work cooperatively to solve crop and aquaculture production problems and transfer new information and technology to area producers.

The center’s goal is to increase crop and catfish yields while preserving the Delta’s environment and natural resources.

Jeff Gore, a Mississippi State University Extension Service entomologist and researcher, has been named interim director of the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, Mississippi. (Photo by MSU Extension Service/Kevin Hudson) Right-click to download