GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida Professor Vimala Nair has been named a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America, the highest recognition of the association.

“Members of the society nominate worthy colleagues based on their professional achievements and meritorious service,” said Jan W. Hopmans, SSSA president. “Less than one percent of the society’s 6,000 active and emeritus members may be elected fellow.”

Nair is a research professor in the Soil and Water Science Department with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kerala University, India, and a doctorate from Göttingen University, Germany. She is internationally recognized as an authority on soil processes that affect the fate and transport of phosphorus, and carbon sequestration in agricultural lands, and has worked on these issues internationally, including in Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya and Spain.

In 2013, Nair was named a Fellow by the American Society of Agronomy“I am very privileged as well as humbled to receive this award, which is recognition for the combined efforts of colleagues and collaborators, post-doctoral associates, and graduate students,” she said.

Nair has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and provides leadership at the international, national, state, and local levels. In addition to her responsibilities as a research professor at UF, she is active in the Florida Phosphorus-Index and SERA-IEG 17 (Southern Regional Extension and Research Activity Information and Exchange Group) Committees. She is an affiliate faculty in UF’s School of Natural Resources and Environment and the

UF Water Institute, and a courtesy faculty member at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Nair will accept her fellowship Nov. 4 during the scientific society’s International Annual Meeting.

Contacts

Writer: Kimberly Moore Wilmoth, 352-294-3302, k.moore.wilmoth@ufl.edu

Source: Vimala Nair, 352-294-3137, vdn@ufl.edu

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