ARS Scientists Honored for Technology Transfer Efforts

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) will recognize some of its most innovative scientists and research partners at the agency’s Technology Transfer Awards Program here today. These awards recognize individuals or groups who have done outstanding work in transferring technology to users outside ARS, the principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“ARS places great importance on making sure that our findings don’t just languish in the laboratory, but are translated into useful products that benefit consumers,” said Edward B. Knipling, ARS administrator. “The winners of this year’s technology transfer awards represent outstanding examples of that commitment in the areas of animal health, natural resources management, food product development, and food safety.”

Top honors for outstanding technology transfer will be presented to two ARS research teams:

• Five ARS scientists are being recognized for their development of an energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, and profitable livestock manure treatment system. This team includes Matias B. Vanotti, Ariel A. Szogi, and Patrick G. Hunt, who work at the ARS Coastal Plains Soil, Water, and Plant Research Center in Florence, S.C.; Patricia D. Millner, who works at the ARS Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., and John H. Loughrin, who works at the ARS Animal Waste Management Research Unit in Bowling Green, Ky.

• Two ARS scientists and their research partner are being recognized for technology transfer to countless laboratories worldwide that use the QuEChERS—Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe—approach to monitor pesticides and other residues in foods. This team includes Steven Lehotay and Katerina Mastovska, ARS Eastern Regional Research Center, Wyndmoor, Pa.; and Michelangelo Anastassiades, Stuttgart, Germany.

Awards honoring superior efforts in technology transfer will be presented to:

• George E. Inglett, ARS Functional Foods Research Unit,Peoria, Ill., for outstanding accomplishments in the invention and technology transfer of the multi-functional food ingredient Z-Trim, which contributes to healthier foods for people around the world.

• Anna Myers McClung, ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center, Stuttgart, Ark., for the development of eight rice varieties resulting in new and improved processed foods, the capture of value-added markets, and expansion of the organic rice industry.

• Chad Finn, ARS Horticultural Crops Research Unit, Corvallis, Ore., for the development and transfer of new berry varieties.

• The Industrial Microwave System Technology Team, a partnership between ARS, North Carolina State University, and Industrial Microwave Systems, which developed and transferred a novel continuous flow microwave heating process for producing large containers of aseptic, shelf-stable vegetable and fruit purees. The team includes Van Den Truong, ARS Food Science Research Unit, Raleigh, N.C.; Josip Simunovic, Ken Swartzel, K. P. Sandeep, Pablo Coronel, Gary Cartwright, Prabhat Kumar, and Laurie Steed, North Carolina State University, Raleigh; and David Parrott, Industrial Microwave Systems, Morrisville, N.C.

• The Rift Valley Fever Outbreak Early-Warning Team, for outstanding effort and creativity in the development and transfer of a Rift Valley fever outbreak early-warning system to protect global agriculture and public health. The team includes Kenneth J. Linthicum and Seth C. Britch, ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville., Fla.; Asaph Anyamba, Jennifer Small, Edwin Pak, and Compton J. Tucker, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, Md.; Jean-Paul Chretien, Department of Defense, Silver Spring, Md.; Ralph L. Erickson, Department of Defense, Washington, D.C.; David C. Schnabel and Jason H. Richardson, Department of Defense, Nairobi, Kenya; Allan Hightower and Robert Breiman, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Nairobi, Kenya; Stephane De La Rocque, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy; and Pierre B. Formenty, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.