June 7– A team from Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) was recently invited to tour the Bayou City Hemp Company to explore potential research collaboration and student training and internship opportunities.
The group from the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences (CAHS) included Aruna Weerasooriya, Ph.D., Laura Carson, PhD., Peter Ampim, Ph.D., Sunil Dhoubhadel, Ph.D., Subhani Bandara, Ph.D., Prabha Amarasinghe, Ph.D., Addisie Geremew, Ph.D., Sela Woldesenbet, D.V.M., and undergraduate research students Camille Pierre and Robert Lewis.
Assistant Vice President of Research and Innovation Jitendra Jain and Director Innovation and Commercialization Bobby Melvin also participated in the tour.
Bayou City Hemp Company is the largest Hemp-based phytochemical extraction and product development company in Houston. According to Weerasooriya, the team from CAHS is planning to use by-products from Bayou City Hemp to develop new products ranging from animal feeds to plant growth stimulators and edible wax. Additionally, the university is working to develop a Memorandum of Understanding with the company to conduct hemp-based product development research.
The tour was led by Bayou City Hemp Company Vice President of Farming and Supply Chain Ray Hawkings, Director Chemistry Israel Gracia, Ph.D., and Director of Sales Alvaro Mangual. After the tour, the scientists and students participated in a question and answer session with the company.
Aruna Weerasooriya, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
adweerasooriya@pvamu.edu
(936) 261-5011