Sauer Among ARS' Outstanding Research
Scientists By Luis
Pons
February 12, 2003
BELTSVILLE, Md., Feb. 12—The
Agricultural Research Service has named
soil scientist Thomas J. Sauer as the Midwest Area Early Career Scientist of
the Year for 2002.
Sauer works in the Soil and Water Quality Research Unit at the
ARS National Soil Tilth Laboratory
in Ames, Iowa. He is being honored for outstanding research accomplishments in
soil management and watershed processes leading to improved environmental
quality.
ARS is the chief scientific research agency of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Sauer's research has led to management practices that improve
environmental quality. His work on crop residue and its impact on the
over-winter energy exchange processes formed the basis for a study on tillage
practices being conducted in cooperation with the USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service
and seven producers across Iowa.
Sauer's evaluation of the availability of phosphorus from
different soil and manure combinations has helped livestock and crop producers
understand some of the variation they have observed in that nutrient's
responses across fields.
In addition, his studies on the hydrologic impacts of
transporting nutrients across watersheds in Arkansas and Iowa led to the
development of a model that predicts the environmental risk from phosphorus
over-application.
Sauer started his ARS career in 1993, as a research associate at
the Soil Tilth Laboratory. He served as a soil scientist with the agency's
Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit in Fayetteville, Ark., for
three years, starting in 1996, before returning to the Soil Tilth lab.
A native of Fulda, Minn., Sauer was a Fulbright Scholar at
Massey University in New Zealand in 1986. He has earned three degrees in soil
science: a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point in 1982, as
well as an M.S. in 1985 and a Ph.D. in 1993 from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
Sauer also earned the USDA Superior Performance Award in 1998
and 1999. |
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