Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration, The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Rattan Lal, Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration at The Ohio State University; an Adjunct Professor of the University of Iceland and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute; and a Visiting Professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile. Dr. Lal is widely recognized globally as a pioneer in soil-centric agricultural management to improve food security globally and develop climate-resilient agriculture through soil carbon sequestration, sustainable intensification, enhancing use and efficiency of agroecosystems, sustainable management of soils, and soil health.
He served as President of the World Association of the Soil and Water Conservation, the International Soil Tillage Research Organization, the Soil Science Society of America, and the International Union of Soil Sciences, Vienna, Austria. He has served as a member of various U.S. and international committees, such as the Federal Advisory Committee on National Assessment of Climate Change, Senior Science Advisor to the Global Soil Forum of IASS, and the United Nations Food Systems Summit Science Committee.
Dr. Lal has been the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Padma Shri Award of the Government of India, the World Food Prize, Arrell Global Food Innovation Award of Canada, Japan Prize, U.S. Awasthi IFFCO Prize of India, GCHERA World Agriculture Prize, and Glinka World Soil Prize of FAO, Rome, Italy. Dr. Lal earned his bachelor's in science degree from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, a M.Sc. from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, and a Ph.D. from the Ohio State University, Columbus.