November 10, 2004
An expert in carbon sequestration and management will discuss the impacts of soil carbon on climate and world food issues Nov. 16 at Iowa State University.
Rattan Lal, director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at The Ohio State University, will present the 2004 Pierre Lecture in Soil Science at 4 p.m. in 2050 Agronomy Hall. A reception will precede the lecture at 3:30 p.m. in the Agronomy Hall Commons.
Lal's presentation is titled, "Soil Carbon Impacts on Climate Change and Global Food Security." It will include carbon sink capacity and factors that determine the rate of carbon sequestration. He will explain how to increase the soil carbon pool that may offset fossil fuel emissions and enhance food security by increasing crop yield.
Lal received his bachelor's degree in agriculture in 1963 from Punjab Agricultural University, his master's degree in soils from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 1965 and his doctorate degree in soils in 1968 from The Ohio State University.
The Pierre Lecture Series honors the memory of William Pierre, who served as chair of the Iowa State agronomy department from 1938 until 1964. Lal's lecture will be the 17th in the Pierre Lecture Series.
The series is co-sponsored by the Iowa State Department of Agronomy Pierre Lecture Fund, the Graduate College Miller Lecture Fund, the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, the Interdepartmental Graduate Programs in Sustainable Agriculture and Water Resources and the Environmental Sciences Program.