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K-State Today

April 14, 2015

Noted expert on sustainable agriculture to present prestigious lecture in soil science

Submitted by Steve Watson

Dr. Douglas Karlen

Longtime USDA soil scientist and researcher in sustainable agriculture Douglas Karlen will present the 32nd annual Roscoe Ellis, Jr. Lectureship in Soil Science at 4 p.m., April 29 in 1018 Throckmorton Hall. The title of his lecture is "From Hypomagnesaemia to Sustainable Landscapes: A Tribute to Dr. Ellis's Guidance." The lecture is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served at 3:30 p.m. in the lobby of Throckmorton Hall.

Karlen, who received his doctorate in agronomy at K-State in 1978, is a research soil scientist with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, or ARS, at the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, or NLAE, in Ames, Iowa. He is co-leader for the ARS Resilient Economic Agricultural Practices, formerly the Renewable Energy Assessment Project, or REAP team, a multilocation research effort focusing on sustainable agricultural production systems that include the harvest of crop residues for bioenergy and bioproducts.

Karlen served on a U.S. National Academy of Sciences Panel associated with the America's Energy Future project and was a contributing author for the "Alternative Liquid Transportation Fuels" chapter. His research program uses soil quality assessment as a tool to quantify effects of soil and crop management practices including tillage, crop rotation, nutrient management, manure management and most recently crop residue removal on the sustainability of agricultural management systems.

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