April 13, 2021

CWEL Master's Student Ji Jhong Chen Nominated for Prestigious Award

Ji Jong Chen recieves award

Congratulations to PSC and CWEL Masters student Ji Jhong Chen for being selected as one of the ten 2021 American Society of Horticultural Science Outstanding Graduate Students and finalist for the Robins Award, Master's Student Researcher of the Year!

Robins Awards are the most coveted of all Utah State honors. Students are rewarded for their hard work and dedication to their individual goals, as well as the goals of USU. The awards memorialize William E. Robins, a campus hero who had a rare quality to turn his vision into Utah State’s vision. Robins was a Sigma Nu at Utah State who served as USU’s student body president in 1949. He was also the primary and initial visionary of today’s Taggart Student Center.

In 1954, Bill and his wife Geraldine died in a plane crash, leaving behind the one-year old orphan Nick Robins. This prompted Bill’s fraternity to set up the Bill E. Robins Memorial fund to raise money that would provide a scholarship for the boy’s education when he was old enough to enroll in the University.

Tragically, Nick Robins died at the age of eight from leukemia. Now we honor this families memory and impact at USU through the Robins Awards.