Rattan Lal
From The Encyclopedia of Earth
User Profile
Name: Rattan Lal
Member Since: July 19th, 2007
Member Name: Rattan.lal
Biography:
Education: B.Sc. (Agric.), 1963, PAU, India; M. Sc. (Soils), 1965, IARI, India; Ph.D. (Soils), 1968, OSU, Columbus, OH, USA
Language Proficiency: English, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, French (fair)
Professional Positions Held
- 1963 - 1965 Research Assistant, The Rockefeller Foundation, New Delhi, India
- 1966 - 1968 Research Assistant, OARDC, Wooster, OH, U.S.A.
- 1968 - 1969 Senior Research Fellow, University of Sydney, Australia
- 1970 - 1987 Soil Physicist, IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria
- 1987 Visiting Professor, Univ. Maracay, Venezuela (one month)
- 1987 - 1989 Associate Professor, Soil Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
- 1989 - to date Prof. Soil Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
- 1997 Visiting Professor, Punjab Agric. Univ., Faisalabad, Pakistan (one month)
- 2001 - 2002 Director, Carbon Mgt. & Sequestration Program, OARDC/OSU, Columbus, OH
- 2003 - to date Director, Carbon Mgt. & Sequestration Center, OARDC/OSU, Columbus, OH
- 2001 - to date Director, South Asia Initiative, OARDC/FAES, Columbus, OH
Additional Administrative Experience
- 1981 - 1984 Chair, International Committee on Tropical Deforestation and Land Development, IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria
- 1984 - 1987 Co-Chair, Tropical Land Clearing for Sustainable Agriculture, IBSRAM Network, Thailand (with Pedro Sanchez, co-chair)
Service to Professional Organizations
- 1982 - 1987 Vice President, Int'l Commission on Continental Erosion
- 1987 - 1990 President, World Association of Soil and Water Conservation
- 1988 - 1991 President, Int'l Soil Tillage Research Organization
- 1990 - 1992 Member NRC/NAS Panel on Vetiveria, NRC, Washington, D.C.
- 1990 - 1993 Member NRC/NAS Panel on Sustainable Agric., NRC, Washington, D.C.
- 1993 - 1996 Corresponding author, IPCC Working Group II: Geneva, Switzerland
- 1998 - 2000 Lead Author, IPCC Special Report, LULUCF, Geneva, Switzerland
- 1998 - 2002 Member, U.S. Nat'l Comm. on Soil Sci., Nat'l Acad. Sci., Washington, D.C.
- 2000 - to date Member, Review Panel, Environment Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico
- 2000 - to date Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Soil Science, Dekker, NY
- 2003 - 2005 Lead Author, U.N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
- 2004 - to date Co-Editor-in-Chief, Soil & Tillage Research, Elsevier, Holland
- 2006 - to date Editor for the Americas, Land Degradation & Development, J. Wiley & Sons, U. K.
- 2006 - to date President, Soil Science Society of America
- 2007 - 2008 Member NRC/NAS Panel on Africa and Asia, NRC/NAS, Washington, D.C.
- 2007 - 2009 Member, U.S. Nat'l Comm. on Soil Sci., Nat'l Acad. Sci., Washington, D.C.
Current Funding Support and Collaboration (Total Grants Received Since 1982= US $ 25.1 millions)
- U.S. Government and Foundations: USDA (NRCS, ERS, CSREES), USAID, USDOE, US State Dept., US-EPA, The Rockfeller Foundation
- Industry: Monsanto, Corn Growers Assoc., Soybean Growers Assoc., AEP, Ohio Coal Development, Tata Trust
- National Laboratory: Oak Ridge Nat’l. Lab., Los Alamos Nat’l Lab., Pacific Northwest Nat’l. Lab., Battelle, Brookhaven Nat’l. Lab.
Graduate Students. Postdoctoral Fellows and Visiting Scientists Supervised
- M. Sc: 38
- Ph. D: 40
- Postdoctoral Fellows: 39
- Visiting Scientists & Special Trainees: 48
Publications
- Books written: 12
- Refereed journal articles: 468
- Reviews and keynote papers: 223
- Books edited: 42
- Chapters in multi-authored books: 287
- Miscellaneous: 171
- Total: 1203
Awards
- Matriculation, Punjab University, highest GPA in the 1959 class
- Gold medal, Punjab Agricultural University, highest GPA in the 1963 class
- Gold medal, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, highest GPA in the 1965 class
- Member, Sigma Xi, Ohio Chapter (1968), Intl. Award, Ohio Chapter 1968
- Fellow: Am. Soc. Agron. (1985), Soil Sci. Soc. Am. (1986), Third World Acad. Sci. (1992), Am. Assoc, Adv. Sci. (1996),
- Soil Water Cons. Soc. (1997), Nat'l Acad. Agric. India, (1998)
- Soil Science Applied Res. Award (1992), Soil Sci. Res. Award (2002) of Soil Sci. Soc. of America
- Hugh Hammond Bennett Award, Soil Water Conservation Society (1998)
- Int'l Soil Sci. Award, Soil Sci. Soc. America (1988)
- Int'l Agron. Award (1995), Env. Quality Award (2004) of American Soc. of Agronomy
- Distinguished Scholar Award, The Ohio State University (1994); Univ. Distinguished Lecture, The Ohio State University (2000)
- Distinguished Senior Faculty Res. Award, Ohio Agricultural Research Development Center-OSU (2001)
- Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India (2001)
- Scroll of Honor, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India (2001)
- Borlaug Award (2005)
- Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, Norwegian Univ. of Life Sciences, Aas.
- Liebig Award, IUSS (2006)
- Presidential Lecture, Current Trends Chaired by President Grimsson of Iceland, Iceland ( May 2006)
Contact Information
School of Environment and Natural Resources
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH, 43210
Phone: 614-292-9069
E-mail: lal.1@osu.edu Rattan Lal