Rattan Lal's Profile

Name:
Rattan Lal
Member Since:
July 19, 2007
Member Name:
Rattan.lal
Last Logged in:
July 19, 2007
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: Rattan Lal

Friends and Colleagues

No friends or colleagues listed

Rattan Lal's Content

Title Role Content Type Website Date
Offsetting carbon dioxide emissions through minesoil reclamation Author Article Encyclopedia of Earth 21 August 2010