More about Cox's research:
Magazine
feature (June 2001)
ARS also gave awards for accomplishments
other than scientific research:
Secretary
of the Year
Equal
Employment Opportunity
Excellence in Information
Administrative
Support
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Veneman
Announces Top ARS Scientists for 2003
By Sharon
Durham
January 22, 2004 WASHINGTON, Jan.
22Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced today that Nelson Cox,
a U.S. Department of Agriculture
microbiologist at Athens, Ga., has been named the
Agricultural Research Service's
Distinguished Senior Research Scientist of the Year for 2003.
Cox, based at the ARS Poultry
Microbiological Safety Research Unit in Athens, is being honored for
poultry research accomplishments that include development of technology to
reduce foodborne pathogens in broiler chickens. Cox's research findings are
documented in more than 600 scientific publications, including more than 230 in
the past seven years alone. Many of Cox's accomplishments have contributed
significantly to increasing the microbiological safety of poultry.
"During his 32-year career with ARS, Dr. Cox's innovative research has
helped to improve the safety of poultry in ways that have benefited both
consumers and the poultry industry," Veneman said.
For example, Cox and his colleagues developed several broiler carcass
sampling techniques and Salmonella/Listeria detection methods now used
in regulatory and research laboratories of USDA's
Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Cox and other ARS scientists were recognized at an awards ceremony today in
New Orleans. The scientists received plaques, cash awards and additional
research funding.
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More about Fanta:
Research |
Award
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George F. Fanta, Hyun S.
Lillehoj and Ross M. Welch were honored as the ARS Outstanding Senior
Scientists of 2003. Fanta is a research chemist at the
National Center for Agricultural
Utilization Research in Peoria, Ill. Lillehoj is a molecular biologist at
the Animal Parasitic
Diseases Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. Welch is a plant physiologist at the
U.S. Plant, Soil and
Nutrition Laboratory in Ithaca, N.Y.
Fanta is being recognized not only for his chemical discoveries, but for his
ability to successfully transfer new research technology from the laboratory to
the marketplace. Lillehoj is being cited for her outstanding contributions to
poultry science and biotechnology, her major impact on the poultry industry in
the area of disease control, and her international activities in providing
leadership to young scientists. Welch is being honored for his pioneering
research and global outreach programs directed at developing sustainable
agricultural systems that support adequate human nutrition, healthier foods and
better lives for all.
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More about Lillehoj:
Research|
Award
More about Welch:
Research
| Award
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ARS also presents
"Early Career Scientist of the Year" awards to outstanding scientists
who have been with the agency for seven years or less. The highest of these
honors is the Herbert L. Rothbart Outstanding Early Career Research Scientist
of the Year.
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More about Van Tassell:
Research
| Award
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The Rothbart Award winner for
2003 is Curtis P. Van Tassell, a geneticist at the agency's
Bovine Functional
Genomics Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. He is being honored for conducting
outstanding research to improve national genetic evaluation systems for dairy
cattle and to identify genome regions affecting economically important health
and productivity traits of cattle.
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More about Ahuja:
Research|
Award
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The agency also named four Area
Senior Research Scientists of 2003. They are:
- Lajpat R. Ahuja, ARS Great Plains
Systems Research Unit, Fort Collins, Colo., for his research and leadership
in development of simulations of integrated agricultural systems.
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More about Havstad:
Research |
Award
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- Kris M. Havstad, ARS Jornada
Experimental Range, Las Cruces, N.M., for research and collaboration
leading to a new understanding of rangeland sustainability.
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More about Spiers:
Research |
Award
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- James M. Spiers, ARS
Small Fruit
Research Station, Poplarville, Miss., for research and transfer of
technology leading to establishment of a thriving blueberry industry in the
southern United States.
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More about Ow:
Research|
Award
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- David W. Ow, ARS Plant Gene Expression
Center, Albany, Calif., for pioneering development of new methods for
controlled DNA insertion and expression in plants.
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More
about Byrd:
Research|
Award
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Seven other Area Early Career
Scientists are being honored by ARS. They are:
- James Allen Byrd II, Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center, College
Station, Texas, for outstanding research leading to the development of a
preharvest feed or water supplement that reduces Salmonella and
Campylobacter in poultry.
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More about Casas:
Research |
Award
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- Eduardo Casas, U.S. Meat Animal
Research Center, Clay Center, Neb., for identifying genomic regions
responsible for the expression of economically important cattle traits that had
a high impact on the beef industry.
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More about Lay:
Research|
Award
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- Donald C. Lay Jr., Livestock
Behavior Research Unit, West Lafayette, Ind., for exemplary research
productivity and development of a new research unit into a nationally
recognized, multidisciplinary center for animal well-being research.
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More about Maleki:
Research |
Award
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- Soheila J. Maleki,
Southern
Regional Research Center, New Orleans, La., for genetic research toward
developing hypoallergenic peanuts, determining the effect of roasting on
sensitization and reaction to peanuts, and describing the mechanisms involved.
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More about Sommers:
Award
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- Christopher H. Sommers, Eastern
Regional Research Center, Wyndmoor, Pa., for pioneering research in the
area of food irradiation to enhance food safety and assist regulatory agencies
and the food industry.
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More about Vanotti:
Research|
Award
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ARS is the USDA's chief in-house scientific research agency.
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