image: The Soil and Water Conservation Society will present their 2025 Conservation Research Award to Sindhu Jagadamma, associate professor of soil science at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, at the society’s annual conference in August.
Credit: Photo of Jagadamma by H. Harbin, courtesy UTIA.
Sindhu Jagadamma, associate professor of soil science at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, will receive the Soil and Water Conservation Society’s 2025 Conservation Research Award at the society’s annual conference in August.
Soil health is critical for sustainable food production, and Jagadamma’s research in her Sustainable Soil Management Lab are developing ways to mitigate soil and environmental problems associated with conventional farm management practices. Her team studies how to maintain soil health through the implementation of conservation management, such as use of organic soil amendments and practices like no-till, cover crops and crop rotation.
The Conservation Research Award recognizes Soil and Water Conservation Society members or teams of members whose research has led to exceptional improvements in soil conservation, water conservation and related natural resources research. The members of this international organization include researchers, administrators, Extension specialists, students, producers, policymakers, U.S. Department of Agriculture employees, educators and more.
“This prestigious national award is a strong testament and recognition of Sindhu’s remarkable research accomplishments and impacts among her professional peers,” said UT AgResearch Dean Hongwei Xin.
Jagadamma also collaborates with scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, focusing on understanding the response of ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycles to abiotic and biotic changes. Her team uses stable carbon and nitrogen isotope techniques and finer-scale instrumentations in innovative lab and field experiments. She has secured more than $70 million in total grants, including 10 USDA-NIFA awards for which she is principal investigator or a named Co-PI.
Jagadamma’s degrees are all in the studies of soil science and agronomy. She received her B.S. in agricultural sciences from Kerala Agricultural University in India and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from The Ohio State University. She began her work at the University of Tennessee as a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Engineering in 2014 and then moved to UTIA as an assistant professor in 2016.
“I dedicate this award to my incredible lab members, whose drive for excellence and hard work made this achievement possible. I am also deeply grateful for the continued support from UT AgResearch and the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science for the growth of my research program,” she said.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.