Rattan Lal#
| Membership Number: | 6291 |
| Membership type: | FOREIGN |
| Section: | EARTH & COSMIC SCIENCES |
| Elected: | 2022 |
| Main Country of Residence: | UNITED STATES |
| Homepage(s): | http://cmasc.osu.edu |
| ORCID: | 0000-0002-9016-2972 |
Present and Previous Positions
- 2022 - 2025 Member of Board for International Food and Agriculture Development appointed by President Biden
- 2022 - present Member Scientific Advisory Board of the Department of Defense (SERDAP/SAB), Washington, DC
- 2020 - present Director, CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Mgt. & Sequestration, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
- 2020 - present Chair in Soil Science, and Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainable Development Issues, IICA, Costa Rica
- 2020 - 2021 Member, Science Committee & Action Track 1&3, United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), NY, NY, USA
- 2020 - present –Member, Advisory Board, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Bonn, Germany
- 2019 - 2020 International Science Council (ISC), Liaison Officer for IUSS, Paris, France
- 2018 - present Member, Science Policy Interface, UNCCD, Bonn, Germany
- 2017 - 2018 President, International Union of Soil Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- 2016 - present Member, Executive Committee of “4 per Thousand” Initiative, Paris, France
- 2014 - 2019 Chair, Advisory Committee, UNU-FLORES, Dresden, Germany
- 2011 - 2017 Sr. Science Advisor & Member, Steering Committee, IASS, Global Soil Week, Potsdam, Germany
- 2013 - 2016 Member, Advisory Board, Food Agriculture and Climate Change (FACCE), E.C.
- 2011 - present Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science, Columbus, OH, USA
- 1987 - 2011 Professor of International Soil Science, the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
- 1969 - 1987 Soil Scientist, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria
- 1968 - 1969 Senior Research Fellow, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
Fields of Scholarship
- Soils of the tropics
- Soil health and its determinants
- Tropical deforestation and land use change on soil quality
- Nexus approach and the "One Health" concept
- Soils of the tropics
- Sustainable management of soil for food and other ecosystem services
- Soil science: soil physical properties and processes
- Nexus approach and the "One Health" concept
- Soil erosion by water and its management
- Soil carbon sequestration for adaptation and mitigation of climate change
Honours and Awards
- Honorary Member, Academy of Sciences of Moldova
- Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa: IARI, New Delhi, India (2021); Amity University, U.P. India (2020); PUCV, Chile (2019); Gustavus Adolphus College (2018); Univ. of Lleida, Lleida, Spain (2017); Technische Universität Dresden, Germany (2015); Alecu Russo Balti State University, Moldova (2010); Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway (2005); PAU, Ludhiana, India (2001)
- 2021 Padma Shri Award, bestowed on the 72nd Republic Day by the Government of India, New Delhi, India
- 2021 Ranked #1 in Agronomy and Agriculture, Environmental Sciences, and at The Ohio State University; #34 Globally (for 2020) and #73 Globally (for career from 1973-2020) among the top 2% of scientists (out of total 8 million scientists) in peer reviewed research article A standardized citation metrics author database annotated for scientific field by Dr. John P. A. Ioannidis of Stanford University (2019, 2020, 2021) (see table p. 5)
- 2021 Ranked #391 globally among Reuters “The Hot List” of top 1,000 climate scientists
- 2020 Arrell Global Food Innovation Award in the Research Category, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
- 2020 World Food Prize, Des Moines, IA, USA
- 2020 Punjab Agricultural University Soil and Agronomy Building named as “Dr. Rattan Lal Laboratories,” Ludhiana, India
- 2019 Japan Prize in “Biological Production, Ecology,” Tokyo, Japan
- 2018 GCHERA World Agriculture Prize, Nanjing, China
- 2018 Glinka World Soil Prize, FAO, Rome, Italy
- 2018 Medal of Honor from UIMP, Santander, Spain
- 2018 Distinguished Service Medal of IUSS, Vienna, Austria
- 2009 Swaminathan Award, TAAS, New Delhi, India, 12 August
- 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Certificate from IPCC with Vice President Al Gore
- 2006 Liebig Award, International Union of Soil Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- 2005 Norman Borlaug Award, Coromandel, New Delhi, India
- 2000 University Distinguished Lecture, The Ohio State University
- 1998 Hugh Hammond Bennett Award, Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, IA, USA
- 1994 Distinguished University Scholar Award, The Ohio State University
- 1994 Professional Service Award, The Ohio State University
