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Local USDA Scientist Wins Research Award

BELTSVILLE, Md., Apr. 13—Janet Novotny, a research physiologist at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, has recently been named as a 2000 recipient of a Early Career Research Scientist award by the Agricultural Research Service, the Department of Agriculture's chief scientific agency.

Novotny was recognized for research combining human feeding studies, isotope methodology, mass spectrometry and mathematical modeling to solve nutrition problems. Her research program in the Human Performance Laboratory had a demonstrated major impact in nutrition, especially in the areas of carotenoid metabolism and nutrient bioavailability, according to Floyd P. Horn, ARS administrator.

"Dr. Novotny is generous in assisting other scientists and has been sought for collaboration by many USDA and external scientists," Horn said. "She has already made national and international impact in nutrition and will continue doing so."

Novotny was honored here Feb. 7 at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. She and other award winners received a plaque, a cash award and additional research funding.

Her main subject areas have been energy and phytonutrient metabolism. She has completed human studies and modeling in both areas, as well as others. She has been published or received acceptance for publication for thirteen manuscripts by such journals as the Journal of Nutrition and the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. She received an Outstanding Manuscript Award from the American Society for Nutritional Sciences based on her beta-carotene modeling work.

The "early career" award is given to ARS scientists who have made outstanding scientific contributions while having been with the agency 7 years or less and completed their highest academic degree within the past 10 years. Novotny is the winner for the agency's entire Beltsville Area. The Beltsville Area consists of ARS programs at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC); the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C.; and worksites in Chatsworth, N.J.; Presque Isle, Maine; and McMinnville, Tenn. BARC is the largest and most diversified agricultural research complex in the world.

Novotny attended the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's of science in nutritional sciences before receiving a doctorate in biophysics in 1993. She joined ARS after graduation as a postdoctorate fellow. She has been an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore since 1997 and has also instructed courses at Georgetown University.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.

Scientific contact: Janet Novotny, research physiologist, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Beltsville, Md., phone (301) 504-8263, fax (301) 504-9098, novotny@bhnrc.arsusda.gov.