Rattan Lal — director of CFAES’s Carbon Management and Sequestration Center and a Distinguished University Professor in the School of Environment and Natural Resources — was honored with the Elsevier Atlas award on March 31 for his journal article “Food Security in a Changing Climate,” which was published in the journal Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology in April 2013.
“The health of soil, plants, animals, people and ecosystems is one and indivisible,” Lal said in an interview with Elsevier Atlas. “Healthier soil creates healthier people. That’s especially true for micronutrient deficiency. If the soil is deficient, then the plants grown in it are deficient and the food consumed by people is deficient. Therefore landscape management for conserving and sustaining soil resources is essential.”
Elsevier, one of the world’s major publishers of scientific, medical and technology information, uses the Atlas awards to showcase research that can have or has had a significant impact on people’s lives around the world, said Virginia Prada LoPez, representing the organization.
“He’s a rock star in the science community and uses science to address contemporary problems,” said SENR Director Jeff Sharp at an event recognizing Lal. “He’s had his hands in the soil in a lot of places in the world.”
In the photo, from left to right, are Young Wu of Elsevier, Lal and Virginia Prada Lopez of Elsevier.