Matt A. Sanderson Research Agronomist USDA-ARS-Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit Building 3702, Curtin Road University Park, PA  16802 Phone: (814)865-1067 Fax: (814)863-0935 Email:matt.sanderson@ars.usda.gov

Research Interests:

Dr. Sanderson is the Lead Scientist for the CRIS project “Managing Forage and Grazing Lands for Multiple Ecosystem Services.” His responsibilities include the agronomy and ecology of temperate region forage and grazing lands. The project goal is to provide science-based information for establishing, maintaining, and managing diverse forage and grazing lands of the northeastern U.S. to support the traditional functions of forage, food, and fiber production and to address emerging services such as carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas mitigation, and bioenergy production. Managing many plant species in grassland systems is an ecological approach to providing these multiple services. The research is conducted at several scales including greenhouse, plot, field, and farm-scale experiments. Dr. Sanderson has more than 25 years of research experience in forages, grazing lands, and bioenergy. His research has focused on the physiology, management, and use of forages in multipurpose systems. Research projects have been diverse including grazing experiments with both cattle and sheep, forage nitrogen use by ruminants, developmental morphology of forages, bioenergy crops, forages for manure management, and grazing land ecology.

Professional Experience

1996 to present Research Agronomist, USDA-ARS Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA.

1996 to present, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Crop and Soil Science, Pennsylvania State University.

1993-1996, Member, Graduate Faculty, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.

1993-1996, Adjunct Assoc. Professor, Agronomy Dept., Tarleton State Univ., Stephenville, TX.

1993-1996, Adjunct Professor, Plant Science Dept., Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX.

1993-1996, Associate Professor, Soil and Crop Sciences Dept., Texas A&M, Stephenville, TX.

1988-1993, Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University, Stephenville, TX.

1988, Postdoctoral Fellow, Agronomy Dept., University of Missouri, Columbia

1983-1988, Grad. Res. Asst., Agronomy Dept., Iowa State University

1981-1983, Grad. Res. Asst., Vet. Sci. and Agronomy Dept., North Dakota State University

Education

1987, Ph.D. Iowa State University, Crop Production & Physiology

1983, M.S. North Dakota State University, Agronomy

1981, B.S. North Dakota State University, Agronomy

1976, Associate Degree, North Dakota State University