Soil scientists Patrick Hunt (left) and Matias Vanotti examine nitrifying pellets. Click the image for additional information about it.

National news release

News story about Vanotti's research (Jan. 03

Vanotti Named a Top Early Career Scientist

NEW ORLEANS, La., Jan. 22–The Agricultural Research Service has named soil scientist Matias B. Vanotti as the "South Atlantic Area’s Early Career Scientist of 2003", acknowledging his innovative and effective research on water quality and animal waste treatment. ARS, the chief scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Vanotti works at the ARS Coastal Plains Soil, Water and Plant Research Center in Florence, SC In addition to added funding for his research, he is receiving a plaque and cash award for work on three projects that have significantly impacted animal waste treatment technology. These include using polymer immobilized nitrifying bacteria technology to treat high- ammonia animal wastewater, discovering a way to extract phosphorus from animal wastewater in reusable form while killing pathogens within it, and developing a full-scale Environmentally Superior Technology to replace swine lagoons.

The Coastal Plains Soil, Water and Plant Research Center is part of ARS' South Atlantic Area, which supports research in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, North Carolina, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as in South Carolina. Researchers at the center anticipate, identify and solve natural resource problems in agriculture that are important to the nation in general, and to the Southeastern Coastal Plains in particular.

Vanotti has more than eight years of service with ARS. Since joining the Florence center as a postdoctoral research associate in 1995, he has applied his expertise in soil science toward cutting-edge research that has led to superior water treatment technologies. Also, he has developed innovative nutrient recommendation systems for crops that have been adopted by Midwest farmers.

Vanotti earned his bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering from the University of Buenos Aires, and his master's and doctoral degrees in soil science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.