David Kissel will become the head of the University of
Georgia
Agricultural and
Environmental Services Laboratories as of June 1.
A UGA professor of crop and soil sciences, Kissel will
coordinate all of the lab’s
analytical and diagnostic services, including soil testing,
pesticide analysis, forage
quality and related testing.
Kissel was head of the CAES crop and soil sciences department
from 1989 to 1996 and was
president of the Soil Science Society of America in 1995.
His research focused on developing a technique for mapping
the
clay and organic-matter
concentrations of soil using Geographical Information Systems
and
selective soil sampling.
The technology gives farmers a fairly low-cost alternative to
detailed soil sampling,
which had been the only way to identify the sporadically spaced
and shaped low-fertility
areas of a field.
Kissel will continue to co-teach a class in “GIS
Applications in Crop and Soil
Sciences.” He will maintain his research program in soil
chemistry, too, with studies
related to soil testing and nutrient management.
