Awards and Promotions - 2005

TAES Research Impact Award

(Pictured at Left: Buddy Mitchell, Vincent Pantalone, Dr. Klindt)

Award Description

This award is presented to an Experiment Station faculty or professional staff member whose efforts have had a profound effect on improving the efficiency, sustainability and/or economic viability of the food and fiber industry of rural areas of Tennessee.

Citation

Vincent Pantalone, this year’s award winner, is no stranger to this award ceremony as he was named the Whatley Young Scientist Award winner last year, and was also honored as the recipient of the Gamma Sigma Delta Research Award for 2004.

This year we again recognize him for his work in soybean breeding and genetics. Soybeans are Tennessee’s top row crop with more than one million acres harvested annually. Dr. Pantalone works to develop varieties for producers that will increase yields and improve their bottom line. Farmers are adopting these varieties – and the consumers they grow the crops for benefit from his work as well.

His program is on the leading edge in the development of low saturated fat and low trans fat soybeans.
A fundamental goal of his work is to develop genetically improved soybean germplasm, and use molecular markers to optimize nutritional value and production efficiency. The use of this new technology has greatly enhanced his program’s standing – and his peers regard him as one of the top soybean breeders in the nation.