The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) announced the following 2023 award recipient. The annual awards are presented for outstanding contributions to soil science through education, national and international service, and research.  Matthew W. Sima of Princeton University is a Ph.D. candidate in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Princeton University and is also completing a certificate in Science, Technology, Environmental Policy at Princeton’s Highland Meadows Environmental Institute. Matthew received a B.A. in Environmental Policy and B.S. in Biology from Duke University in 2019. He is recognized as an emerging expert in PFAS biodegradation and has co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications on agricultural and environmental research. Matthew has been active in student organizations while attending Duke University and Princeton University. He is the current president of the Graduate Engineering Council at Princeton and a member of the Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Microbiology, American Geophysical Union, and American Chemical Society. He has been invited to present his research to the US Environmental Protection Agency and several universities and organizations. 

The Clark Soil Biology Graduate Student Scholarship (formerly the Francis and Evelyn Clark Soil Biology Scholarship)
was established to recognize the importance of soil biology and the understanding of soil, plant, and microbial
interactions, and of nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. The scholarship is supported by a gift from Dr. and Mrs.
Francis Clark to the Agronomic Science Foundation and administered by SSSA.