USDA Career Federal Employees Awarded Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals for Innovative Solutions to Agricultural Challenges
WASHINGTON, August 12, 2025 – Five employees with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have been honored with Service to America medals for their groundbreaking research and dedication to solving agricultural challenges that affect the nation every day, from field to table.
Since 2001, the Partnership for Public Service has celebrated nearly 800 public servants through the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, also known as the Sammies. This premier awards program for career federal employees is considered the Oscars of public service and shines the spotlight on remarkable accomplishments that benefit the nation and improve the daily lives of all Americans.
The USDA 2025 Sammies honorees and a summary of their accomplishments are below:
- Research Soil Scientist Yakov Pachepsky, Ph.D., and Research Leader Moon S. Kim, Ph.D., (ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Md.) were honored for their foodborne illness prevention research, which is achieved by drones, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to solve contamination challenges in water, soil, and at processing facilities across the nation. Their research team’s efforts leveraged engineering and environmental science to create solutions for agriculture, including the closely monitored Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, by developing detection technologies that can identify contamination in chicken coops and free-range poultry areas.
- Research Physical Scientist Kyle Knipper, Ph.D., (ARS Sustainable Agricultural Water Systems Unit in Davis, Ca.) was honored for developing satellite-based models that measure the evaporation of water from soil and plant surfaces and transforming traditional irrigation practices so farmers have better irrigation scheduling and crop health. His research is specifically far-reaching due to two projects (GRAPEX and T-REX) that use remote sensing of evapotranspiration to preserve groundwater for grapes and tree crops, respectively. This breakthrough research was able to reduce water usage by up to 25% in some vineyards.
- Distinguished Senior Research Scientist Johnie N. Jenkins, Ph.D., (ARS Crop Science Research Laboratory at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss.) was honored for his innovative research to eradicate the boll weevil in cotton plants and leading a field team to introduce a pest-resistant cotton variety that is now considered the industry standard. His research has also resulted in higher cotton yields and reduced costs for applying insecticides.
- Veterinary Medical Officer Dr. Lydia Carpenter (APHIS Veterinary Services in Washington, D.C.) was honored for spearheading the creation of a groundbreaking federal program to combat African swine fever (ASF), a deadly disease threatening the $8 billion U.S. pork export market. Recognizing the catastrophic potential of ASF—which has devastated swine populations across Europe and Asia—Carpenter led efforts to design and implement a pilot initiative that brought together federal and state regulators, farmers, and pork producers to establish national standards for biosecurity, surveillance, and traceability.
Visit the 2025 Service to America Medals website to learn more and celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments of these career federal employees.
The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in U.S. agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.
For nearly 50 years, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has been protecting the health and value of America’s agricultural and natural resources. It’s a vital mission: healthy and profitable American agriculture provides food and clothing for countless people worldwide and is a key pillar of our economy.
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