Department News
Dr. Neil Hansen Coordinates First Annual Conference for Western Great Plains Sustainable Feedstock Development Partnership
This first annual conference was held on September 16-17 in order to establish a regional partnership for sustainable feedstock development. The conference provided a unique venue for crafting creative solutions for renewable energy and the exchange of information on biomass production, processing, economics, and policy. Read Full Story >>
Jessica G. Davis receives Fellow Award from Soil and Water Conservation Society
Jessica Davis
The designation of Fellow is conferred on society members who have performed exceptional service in advocating the conservation of soil, water, and related natural resources. This award is given first and foremost for professional excellence. Professional achievement may be in practicing, investigating, administering, or teaching soil and water conservation or closely related fields. Only society members with at least 10 years of membership are eligible.
essica Davis has spent much of her career helping livestock producers manage manure as a resource to improve soil quality while protecting water quality. Her research and extension efforts have been targeted toward solving real-world resource problems in practical ways. Dr. Davis has been very active and effective in service and leadership within Colorado State University, the state of Colorado, much of the Great Plains and the Latin American countries of Argentina, Uruguay and Guatemala.
Dr. Davis has been active within the Soil and Water Conservation Society by serving as a Director of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Chapter, as well as making presentations at SWCS functions in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and SWCS International annual meetings. By transforming the complex science of nutrient management into practical information on managing manure as a crop nutrient resource, Dr. Davis continues to provide exceptional service that gets conservation on the ground, the hallmark of a true SWCS Fellow.
Graduate student award winners at the Western Society of Crop Science and Western Society of Soil Science annual meeting in Fort Collins, June 22-23, 2009
Front row: Winners of the oral crops presentation competition. From left, Tori Valdez, CSU; Lindsey Voigt, Montana State University; Adam Heuberger, CSU; David Favero, CSU. Back row, from left, Dr. Mark Brick, CSU, president of the Western Society of Crop Science; Kendall DeJonge, CSU, soil science poster competition; Austin Hawks, Utah State University, soil science poster presentation; Edwin Moshia, CSU, soil science oral presentation; John Nelson, Texas Tech University, soil science oral presentation; Kathy Doesken, CSU, soil science poster competition; Dr. Raj Khosla, CSU, president of the Western Society of Soil Science.
Colorado State University Soil Chemistry Professor Wins Prestigious National Science Foundation Career Award
Thomas Borch
Thomas Borch, assistant professor of environmental soil chemistry in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Colorado State University, has won a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation. The honor is considered one of the most prestigious for up-and-coming researchers in science and engineering.
The nearly $500,000, five-year CAREER award will support Borch’s research on climate change impacts on the interrelationship between iron cycling and organic carbon.
In particular, Borch will use the grant to investigate how climate change, and especially the projections of increased precipitation and flooding, may impact important biogeochemical cycles such as that of iron. Iron is the most abundant redox-active metal ion in the earth’s crust. Iron minerals are among the most important reactive solids in earth surface environments, acting as natural filters of inorganic contaminants and nutrients, sorbents for organic matter, and poising the redox potential of groundwater. Lack of biologically available iron in soils can also lead to iron deficiency anemia which is a major public health and financial problem in Central Asia, with primary impact on woman and children.
Iron minerals are responsible, in part, for stabilization of organic matter in soils. Consequently, any changes in iron chemistry may also result in changes in the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and the global climate. One of the research objectives is to determine the impact of increasing water content on the iron mineralogy and chemical structure of humic substances along subalpine moisture gradients at the Fool Creek Watershed at the USDA Forest Service Fraser Experimental Forest in Colorado. In high-elevation watersheds of the Rocky Mountains, more than 95 percent of spring snowmelt infiltrates through soils and moves along shallow groundwater flow paths before merging with stream water. In fact, one-sixth of the world’s population depends on water released from seasonal snowpacks and glaciers, so an improved understanding of the soil processes that sustain the supply of clean water from mountain headwaters is critical to current and future human natural resource demands.
“This award will allow us to initiate a new important research area in environmental biogeochemistry at CSU, attract high-caliber postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and develop a set of new courses targeting undergraduate students interested in environmental biogeochemical processes from the molecular scale to field scale,” said Borch. “In addition, the proposed research will involve the use of advanced synchrotron radiation-based spectroscopy which will allow us to bring CSU students to the National Laboratories and teach them about state-of-the-art techniques which will help them become more competitive for future research and teaching careers.”
Borch earned his doctorate degree in 2003 from Montana State University in environmental soil chemistry. He also did a postdoctoral fellowship (2004-2006) at Stanford University in soil and environmental biogeochemistry from 2004-2006. Borch earned his Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Copenhagen in environmental chemistry in 1999 and 1997, respectively.
Borch joined Colorado State University in 2005 to initiate a program in environmental soil chemistry. Borch, who also holds a joint appointment to the Department of Chemistry at Colorado State, is a member of CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability; an associate with the Institute for Environmental Solutions; is listed among the AcademicKeys Who’s Who in Sciences Higher Education; and Marquis Who’s Who in America. He is a member of the Soil Science Society of America, the American Chemical Society and the Danish Chemical Society.
Congratulations to the following students for being recognized by the College of Ag and the Department of Soil & Crop Sciences for their outstanding achievements during school year 2008-2009:
- ASA-Red Leonard Oustanding Senior: Michael Johns
- Scotty Robertson Outstanding Crops Senior Award: Katie Strand
- Rocky Mountain Agri-Business Oustanding Senior Award: Sally Jones
- Brewbaker Outstanding Junior Award: Mariko Matsuda
- Golden Opportunity Scholar: David Favero
- Tak Tsuchiya Graduate Student Achievement Award: Bethany Econopouly and Marie Turner
- Hunter Follett Graduate Student Achievement Award: Matthew Booher
- Byrd Curtis Scholarship Award: Victoria Valdez
Monfort Professor Award Recipients Announced; Award is one of Colorado State's Top Honors
Rajiv Khosla
Colorado State University today announced Rajiv Khosla, associate professor of agricultural science; Venkatesan (Mani) Manivannan, associate professor of engineering; Frank Dinenno, associate professor of health and exercise science; and Jacob Roberts, assistant professor of physics, as recipients of the prestigious Monfort Professor Award, one of the university's top honors.
Each will receive $75,000 annually for two years to support innovative teaching and research. The awards, established through a gift from the Monfort Family Foundation, are in addition to salary and support the professors currently receive from Colorado State.
"The recipients embody the excellence of Colorado State's faculty," said CSU Interim Provost Rick Miranda. "The selection process is extremely rigorous and rewards faculty members who are making a difference not just at the university but around the world."
Governor Brian Schweitzer receives the College of Agricultural Sciences Honor Alumnus Award
Governor Brian Schweitzer
Montana's Governor Brian Schweitzer will receive the College of Agricultural Sciences Honor Alumnus award. Schweitzer was elected as Montana's 23rd governor in 2004. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in International Agronomy from Colorado State University and later earned a Master of Science degree in Soil Science from Montana State University. Schweitzer's business and agricultural experience is broad and deep, including extensive farming and ranching experience in Montana, and successful agricultural business projects on five continents. He began a career of irrigation development that took him to Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. In 1993, Schweitzer was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to serve on the Montana State USDA Farm Service Agency committee. He served for seven years with the FSA, and his three-person committee was responsible for the operation of 46 county offices, 300 employees and a budget of more than $300 million.
The Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Awards program recognizes CSU alumni and friends who have distinguished themselves professionally, brought honor to the University, and have made significant contributions of time and/or philanthropy to the university or their community.
Congratulations, Dr. Neil Hansen
Dr. Neil Hansen received the Charles N. Shepardson Meritorious Teaching award at the College of Ag Sciences Spring Award event. This award is presented to a faculty member who has demonstrated innovation in teaching agriculture related courses or curricula. This award recognizes the meritorious efforts of a faculty member who uses an approach that is innovative and contributes significantly to the learning-teaching process.
CSU Clean Energy Supercluster Seed Grants
Post-doc Shusong Zheng and Dr. Pat Byrne received a CSU Clean Energy Supercluster seed grant for $15,300 to continue research on Brassica oilseed biofuels for Colorado. The project title is “Overcoming the Bottleneck of Oilseed Crop Development for Biofuels through Mutagenesis and Interspecies Crosses”.
Drs. Nora Lapitan, Joe Brummer, and Junhua Peng received a CSU Clean Energy Supercluster seed grant for $18,000 to study a new bioenergy crop, Miscanthus. The project title is "Evaluation of Miscanthus as a Bioenergy Crop in Colorado and Development of Genetic Resources."
National Academy of Science Committee
Keith Paustian is serving on a committee commissioned by the National Academy of Science to produce a report on Methods for Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The committee is composed of 13 scientists from academia, national laboratories and private industry. The report will be used to inform the new Administration and Congress on current and future capabilities to monitor and verify greenhouse gas emissions and emission reductions, in conjunction with potential international treaty commitments and US national policy initiatives. The report will be released in early 2010.
Congratulations, Shusong Zheng
The International Presidential Fellows program was launched earlier this year in February as a way to honor graduate students and visiting faculty for their international involvement.
There are three Fellows from the College of Agricultural Sciences: Oleksandr Byelashov (Ukraine), Animal Sciences; Mawill Rodriguez-Marval (Venezuela), Animal Sciences; and Shusong Zheng (China), Soil and Crop Sciences.
Colorado Senator Ken Salazar Receives Soil Stewardship Award -
Award Recognizes His Support for Agriculture, Conservation
Colorado Senator Ken Salazar (right) and Department Head Gary Peterson.
“It is a great honor to present the Soil Science Society of America’s 2008 Excellence in Soil Stewardship Award to Senator Ken Salazar,” said SSSA President Gary A. Peterson, Colorado State University. “As a farmer and rancher, Senator Salazar has learned the importance of proper soil management to ensuring the long-term productivity of agricultural lands.”
Peterson presented the award to Senator Salazar at a luncheon in the U.S. Capitol and was joined by the leadership of SSSA and the Crop Science Society of America, both scientific societies based in Madison, WI. Read Full Story
Congratulations, Dr. Paustian
Keith Paustian, Professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences is one of the Colorado State University scientists who has been closely involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which shared the Nobel Peace Prize.
Congratulations, Dr. Haley
Scott Haley, Professor and Wheat Breeder in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Colorado State University, received the Millers Award from Tim Aschbrenner of Cereal Food Processors for the best set of wheat lines in this year’s evaluations at the 2008 Wheat Quality Council annual meeting.