Rattan Lal

Rattan Lal, Ph.D, is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at The Ohio State University, an Adjunct Professor of University of Iceland, and a visiting professor at PUCV, Chile. He has been awarded seven honorary doctorate degrees from Norway, Germany, Spain, Moldova, India, Chile, and the US. He has served as President of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (1987-1990), International Soil and Tillage Research Organization (1988-1991), Soil Science Society of America (2006-2008), and the International Union of Soil Sciences (2017-2018). His professional research interests include soil carbon sequestration for food and climate security, conservation agriculture, principles and practices of soil erosion control, eco-intensification of agroecosystems, soil restoration, and sustainable management of soils. He has authored 955 journal articles, authored/edited 98 books, and mentored 360 researchers from around the world. He has an h-index of 150 and cumulative citations of 101,811, and he is editor of both Advances in Soil Science and the Encyclopedia of Soil Science. He has worked on six continents, travelled to 105 countries, and made on average one keynote international presentation per month since 1980. He is  laureate of the 2018 GCHERA World Agriculture Prize (Nanjing, China), 2018 Glinka World Soil Prize (Rome, Italy), 2019 Japan Prize (Tokyo, Japan), and 2019 IFFCO Prize (New Delhi, India).