Dr. 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, as well as an Adjunct Professor of University of Iceland and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), India. He received a B.S. from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India (1963); M.S. from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India (1965); and Ph.D. from the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (1968). He served as Sr. Research Fellow with the University of Sydney, Australia (1968-69), Soil Physicist at IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria (1970-87), and Professor of Soil Science at OSU (1987 to date). He has authored/co-authored over 1100 refereed journal articles and more than 575 book chapters, has written and edited/co-edited more than 100 books. He was included in the Thomson Reuters list of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds (2014-2016), and he is among Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers in Agriculture (2014-2022). He was ranked #1 globally and in the U.S. among Agricultural Scientists (Plant Scientists and Agronomists) of the world by Research.com (2023, 2024). He has received an Honoris Causa degree from nine universities in Europe, USA and Asia; the Medal of Honor from UIMP, Santander, Spain (2018); the Distinguished Service Medal of IUSS (2018); and is fellow of the five professional societies. Dr. Lal has mentored 125 graduate students, 15 undergraduate honors students, and 188 visiting scholars from around the world. He has also visited 102 countries. He was President of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (1987-1990), International Soil and Tillage Research Organization (1988-1991), Soil Science Society of America (2006-2008), and the International Union of Soil Sciences (2017-2018). He is Chair in Soil Science and Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainability Issues for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). He was a member of the 2021 United Nations Food Security Summit Science Committee and Action Tracks 1 & 3. He currently serves as a member of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) in the Department of Agriculture and as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) in the Department of Defense. Dr. Lal is laureate of the GCHERA World Agriculture Prize (2018), Glinka World Soil Prize (2018), Japan Prize (2019), U.S. Awasthi IFFCO Prize (2019), Arrell Global Food Innovation Award (2020), World Food Prize (2020), India’s Padma Shri Award (2021), Mahatma Ghandi Award for Environmental Protection (2022), and the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity (2024).Marium Husain, MD, is a medical oncologist who specializes in treating patients with soft tissue and bone sarcoma and serves as an assistant professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at The Ohio State University. She was motivated to focus on sarcomas after meeting a patient suffering from rhabdomyosarcoma of the liver during a medical mission trip to Haiti early in her career. He was unable to access basic treatment services and passed away. Ever since, it has been her mission to provide the best cancer care possible to her patients while offering a comprehensive approach that focuses on the whole person. Marium Husain has been honored to discuss her work at respected conferences around the country and her work research has been widely published in peer-reviewed journals such as BMC Cancer, Journal of Geriatric Oncology and Hematology and Medical Oncology. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Connective Tissue Oncology Society. She believes the research opportunities as well as the support from the faculty and multidisciplinary teams at The James will enable us to achieve our goals. She says that her colleagues are some of the most committed and dedicated people she has met and that it’s a privilege to be part of that team.
