Assistant professors named recipients of Branham Endowment Junior Faculty for Excellence in Research Award

January 26, 2015

Lincoln, Neb. — Samodha Fernando, Patricio Grassini and Amanda Ramer-Tait have been named recipients of the Junior Faculty for Excellence in Research Award provided by the Branham Endowment Fund for 2015-2016. The award is given annually by the Agricultural Research Division to tenure-track assistant professors with an ARD appointment who have a maximum of five years of professional service at University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and is based on publication record, evidence of external funding activity and peer recognition.

Samodha Fernando received a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Keleniya. He then received a M.S. in reproductive physiology and Ph.D. in microbial genomics from Oklahoma State University. After graduation, Fernando was a post-doc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Currently, Fernando is an assistant professor in the Department of Animal Science at UNL. His success in obtaining external grants, publishing, advising graduate students, supervising undergraduate research projects and teaching is commendable. He has been a reviewer for six journals, and was interviewed as a scientific expert about the rumen and its microbes in "Horizon: Should I Eat Meat? How to Feed the Planet," which aired worldwide. In recognition of his achievements, Fernando was selected by the American Society of Animal Science to receive their 2015 Early Career Achievement Award. His development of highly collaborative research teams to evaluate gut microbial ecology of beef and dairy cattle, swine and poultry is exciting. Fernando’s cooperative spirit and team building skills are a key to his success.

Additional information about Samodha can be found on his web page: http://animalscience.unl.edu/samodha-c-fernando  

Patricio Grassini received a B.S. in agricultural engineering from University of Buenos Aires and a Ph.D. in agronomy from UNL. Currently, Grassini is an assistant professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at UNL and a fellow of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute and the Center for Great Plains Studies. Grassini has authored 25 papers published in peer-review journals, including Nature Communications, PNAS, Global Change Biology, 6 book chapters and many extension publications. His research interests center on crop yield potential, yield-gap analysis, resource- and energy-use efficiency in cropping systems and simulation modeling. Grassini’s past research has encompassed a diverse range of cropping systems, including rain fed crops in Argentina and Sub-Saharan Africa and high-yield irrigated crops in the United States corn belt. One of Grassini’s major on-going projects is to develop a global yield gap atlas that provides estimates of gaps between actual and potential yield for major cropping systems. He is also leading a project to benchmark on-farm yields and input-use efficiency maize-soybean systems in the U.S. corn belt and another project on yield forecasting. Grassini was recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, Fling Fellowship and other two fellowships. He is also an appointed member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Field Crops Research journal.

Additional information about Patricio can be found on his web page: http://agronomy.unl.edu/grassini

Amanda Ramer-Tait received her B.S. in biochemistry from Western Kentucky University and Ph.D. in immunobiology from Iowa State University. Currently, Ramer-Tait is the Harold and Ester Edgerton Assistant Professor of Immunology and Microbiology in the Department of Food Science and Technology at UNL. Her research interests center on the dynamic interactions between the immune system and intestinal microbes. Current research efforts are aimed at understanding how host-microbial interactions in the gastrointestinal tract contribute to chronic, inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. Ramer-Tait is a member of the UNL Gut Function Initiative and director of the UNL Gnotobiotic Mouse Facility. She teaches graduate level immunology and microbiology courses. Ramer-Tait has authored 39 peer-reviewed publications and her research program is funded by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Agriculture, Nebraska Corn Board and the Nebraska Research Initiative.

Additional information about Amanda can be found on her web page: http://foodscience.unl.edu/Ramer-Tait

 A reception to honor Fernando, Grassini and Ramer-Tait was held on Feb. 3 at Nebraska East Union.