Narayanan wins 2022 Distinguished Young Alumni award from Kansas State

Sruthi Narayanan, a Clemson assistant professor of crop physiology, has been named a recipient of Kansas State University’s 2022 Distinguished Young Alumni Award.

This award was established in 2012 and recognizes two Kansas State University graduates (35 or younger) who are using their leadership and service experience to excel in their professions and contribute to their communities.

Narayanan earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from Kansas State in 2011 and 2015. She has an undergraduate degree in agriculture from Kerala Agriculture University in India.

“It is a great honor for me to be recognized by my alma mater,” Narayanan said. “More than that, as someone who considers K-State as a second home, I consider this award as recognition by people who are close to my heart. When I was a graduate student at K-State, I was greatly inspired by DYA award recipients’ invited talks and interactions, organized by the K-State Alumni Association. That to me was a unique model of what it means to give back to society and make an impact.

“I am extremely happy and humbled to be one of the recipients of the 2022 DYA Award. I consider this as a responsibility to continue undertaking impactful research and contribute to society through research, education and service,” she said.

Narayanan is an assistant professor in the Clemson Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. Her research focuses on abiotic stress tolerance of crops. She studies plant responses to climate extremes and collaborates with crop breeders for developing climate-resilient varieties. She is known for her findings on applications of lipidomics for improving heat tolerance of plants.

For her efforts in research and teaching, Narayanan has received several other acclaims. In 2021, she received the Crop Science Society of America Early Career award, Association of Agricultural Scientists of Indian Origin Early Career Agricultural Scientist Award, Clemson University Provost Junior Outstanding Teacher Award, and Clemson’s College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences’ (CAFLS) Teaching Award for Excellence (<6 years of experience).

In addition to Narayanan, James Millsap, manager of inclusion and diversity strategy for Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., is the other Kansas State Distinguished Young Alumni recipient for 2022.

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