Pawel Wiatrak has joined the Clemson University staff, working at the Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville, S.C.

An agronomist by training, Wiatrak has worked the past several years at the University of Florida’s North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy, Fla.

Wiatrak will have Extension and research responsibilities for agronomic studies and outreach programs in corn and soybeans. “We are excited to have Pawel join our faculty,” said Steve Meadows, resident director at Edisto REC. “He will be an excellent addition to our cropping systems team.”

“Pawel has been working at the Quincy Center in Florida with Drs. Marois and Wright. Quincy is the center of much of the soybean rust work in Florida and Pawel was heavily involved in those projects and will be a great addition to our soybean rust team,” notes John Mueller, and plant pathologist and leader of the Edisto center’s soybean rust monitoring team.

Wiatrak was born in Krotoszyn, Poland and raised on a small farm there. He began work at the Edisto facility in late May after spending 13 years at the (NFREC) in Quincy.

He earned an M.S. degree 1992 and PhD in 1999 in agronomy from Agricultural University in Poznan, Poland. He also has an associate degree in computer programming and applications from Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Fla.

e-mail: rroberson@farmpress.com