2008 Lecturer | Dr. David Kissel
About the Lecturer
He was at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Temple, TX from 1969-1978. From 1978-1988, Dr. Kissel was a Professor at Kansas State University. Since 1989, he has been at the University of Georgia, Crop and Soil Sciences, as Professor, Head, Division Chair, and most recently Director of the Agricultural and Environmental Services Lab. Dr. Kissel teaches an advanced soil fertility course.
In 1995 Dr. Kissel has served as President of the Soil Science Society of America. He has been Associate Editor for the Jouranl of Environmental Quality and Fertilizer Issues Journal, Co-Editor of the book “Ammonia Volatilization from Urea Fertilizers, Editor-in-Chief of the Soil Science Society of America, and Editor of the Soil Science Society of America Journal.
Dr. Kissel is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, Soil Science Society of America, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Potash and Phosphate Institute named Dave Kissel the Robert E. Wagner Senior Scientist Award in 2006.
Research
Much of Dr. Kissel’s research has dealt with crop response to nitrogen fertilizer rates and placement, as well as understanding components of the nitrogen cycle, including those that affect loss of nitrogen from the soil. His studies of ammonia volatilization have focused on understanding individual soil and environmental factors that control the rate of ammonia loss from surface applied nitrogen fertilizer in both agricultural and forestry systems.
His nitrogen mineralization studies have focused on understanding the soil, crop residue, and environmental factors responsible for determining the amount of plant available nitrogen that becomes available to crops.
Dr. Kissel has used aerial imagery to quantify and map the spatial variation of soil organic carbon. Because the nitrogen and carbon cycles are linked, these maps might potentially be used for mapping the spatial variation of nitrogen availability in crop production fields.
Since 2001, Dr. Kissel has studied soil chemical methods used in the determination of the lime requirement of acid soils. Studies have focused on the use of a simple titration procedure for determining the lime requirement of acid soils. This procedure has been implemented and is presently being used for the routine determination of lime requirement of acid soils at the University of Georgia Soil, Plant, and Water Laboratory.
Education
Dr. Kissel earned his B.S. degree in Agronomy (Soil Science) from Purdue University in 1965 and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1967 and 1969.