5 p.m., Nov. 3, 2008----Yan Jin, professor of soil physics at the University of Delaware, has been named a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). Fellow is the highest recognition bestowed by the Society on its members.

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Jin is known for her research in the measurement, modeling and interpretation of contaminant fate and transport in porous media. In particular, Jin's research concentrates on the vadose zone, the mostly unsaturated zone between the soil surface and groundwater table.

Jin was recognized at the SSSA awards program on Oct. 6 in Houston.

Jin was nominated by Donald Sparks, S. Hallock DuPont Chair of Plant and Soil Sciences and the director of the Center for Critical Zone Research at UD.

“Dr. Yan Jin has built an internationally recognized research program on colloid, including pathogens and nanoparticles, and colloid-facilitated transport of contaminants in porous media," Sparks said. "She is actively involved in undergraduate and graduate education in environmental soil and water sciences. In addition to being a talented, productive, and well-recognized scientist and teacher, she is a model faculty citizen, who provides dedicated service on committees at all levels at the University and throughout the soil physics community.”

In December 2007, a drinking-water technology developed by Jin and other UD researchers was named as one of seven top advances for 2007 highlighted by NASA Tech Briefs magazine in a review of the year's most innovative technologies.

Jin received her bachelor's degree in soil science from the Agricultural University of Hebei, China, in 1983, and her master's in soil chemistry from New Mexico State University in 1989. She completed her doctoral degree in environmental toxicology at the University of California, Riverside, in 1994.

She joined the UD faculty in 1995 with primary appointment in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Jin also has a joint appointment in the University's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and has been an adjunct professor at China Agricultural University since 2003.

Besides SSSA, Jin is a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Geophysical Union, and is president of the Association of Chinese Soil and Plant Scientists in North America. Since 2003, she has served as the associate editor of the Vadose Zone Journal.

Article by Katy O'Connell
Photo by Kathy Atkinson