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Seminar: Soil and Global Issues: Solutions Under Foot
January 23, 2020 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Professor Rattan Lal is a distinguished professor of soil science and director of Ohio State University’s Carbon Management and Sequestration Center. Dr. Lal was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change when that organization won the Nobel Peace Prize. Rattan continues to work for international climate solutions with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
Dr. Lal has been recognized with many awards over his career, too many to list, but just over the last 5 years, he was mentioned by Reuters as part of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds in 2015 and 2016. Rattan was awarded the 2018 World Agriculture Prize and the 2018 World Soil Prize. In April, he was awarded the Japan Prize in Tokyo, during a ceremony attended by Emperor Akihito. These three prizes came with a combined award of $540,000, all of which Lal has donated back to the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center.
Dr. Lal has authored or co-authored >1700 research journal publications and 22 books, and he is a leading voice on issues related to climate change and soil carbon, soil degradation and restoration, food security, environmental quality and sustainability.
Professor Lal has presided over several societies during his career, including the International Union of Soil Science (IUSS), the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), the International Soil Tillage Research Organization (ISTRO), and the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWC). Since 1987 Rattan has mentored over 300 post-docs, visiting scholars, research scientists, and graduate students. It is these young scientists that Dr. Lal was thinking about when he donated all his prize money back to his research center.