April 29, 2015
Leader in sustainable agriculture research presents lecture at 4 p.m. today
Douglas Karlen, longtime U.S. Department of Agriculture soil scientist and researcher in sustainable agriculture, will present the 32nd annual Roscoe Ellis Jr. Lectureship in Soil Science at 4 p.m. April 29 in 1018 Throckmorton Hall. The title of his lecture is "From Hypomagnesaemia to Sustainable Landscapes: A Tribute to Dr. Ellis' Guidance." Refreshments will be served before the lecture at 3:30 p.m. in the lobby of Throckmorton Hall.
Karlen, who received his doctorate in agronomy at K-State in 1978, is a research soil scientist with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service at the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, Iowa. He is co-leader for the service's resilient economic agricultural practices — formerly the Renewable Energy Assessment Project — or REAP team, a multilocation research effort focusing on sustainable agricultural production systems that include the harvest of crop residues for bioenergy and bio-products.
Karlen served on a U.S. National Academy of Sciences Panel associated with the America's Energy Future project and was a contributing author for the "Alternative Liquid Transportation Fuels" chapter. His research program uses soil quality assessment as a tool to quantify effects of soil and crop management practices including tillage, crop rotation, nutrient management, manure management and most recently crop residue removal on the sustainability of agricultural management systems.
He is author or co-author for 212 refereed journal articles and 150 refereed proceedings, book chapters, and non-technical publications. In addition, Karlen is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, and Soil and Water Conservation Society. He also is serving as Secretary General for the International Soil and Tillage Research Organization and is recognized as an adjunct faculty member in the agronomy department at Iowa State University.
For more information, contact Dorivar Ruiz Diaz, ruizdiaz@k-state.edu.