Goodbye, Sarah!

After five fun and action-packed years, Sarah is off to greener pastures! She has recently begun a position as the Research Specialist in Organic Cropping Systems in our sister-lab, run by PI Chris Reberg-Horton. What a perfect fit for her! Below are pictures from Sarah's going away party in the Soil Science department. We will miss you, Sarah!

Sarah received lots of love from the lab!

A table highlighted some of the funnies from our experiences over the years

A 'thumbprint tree' was made in her honor

Lots of blue thumbs! (and pinkies for those of the group who thought their thumb was too fat)

Cheers to the master

Congratulations to Arun Jani, our most recent M.S. of Soil Science graduate!

Jacob wins first place!

Please join me in congratulating Jacob Rutz, a star undergraduate researcher working in our lab, for being awarded first prize in the undergraduate National Student Research Symposium Poster Competition at the Tri-Societies meetings this week. Way to go, Jacob! Jacob's poster, entitled "Potential Contributions of Legume Cover Crop Root Biomass to Labile Organic Matter Pools," was selected out of many worthy entries. In addition to his first-prize finish, Jacob was also awarded the Cross-Cultural Experience Program award for study abroad, which he will take advantage of in Namibia next semester.  See how happy he looks?  He should be! Jacob is a junior in the Agroecology program here at NCSU.

Jacob's poster!

This was hanging in the 'awards' area of the conference

ASA CSSA SSSA 2012 - here we come

Nearly 4,000 people attended the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Annual Meetings, Oct. 21-24, Cincinnati, OH and we are proud to be part of them.

 

First dinner at a cute local restaurant, Melt.

Jacob's parents offered the place for us to stay for the entire time.
We were so grateful to stay in such a warm and friendly home. Thank you for the hospitality :)

Lots of people were interested in Matt's oral presentation.
Great talk, Matt!!

Mary presented her work in Malawi.

Erika and her popular poster.

Jacob with his first prize award winning poster.
Congratulations Jacob!!

Suzanne and her poster.

 

The best way to get the day started.
Coffee for the world!

Lunch time. Guess who got yelled at.

Taking a break.

New soil scientists

Congratulations to Erika Larsen and Sarah Smith, our most recent M.S. of Soil Science graduates!

Sarah defended in mid September and welcomed her newest family member, baby Declan, into their family only a few days later. Super multi-tasking soil scientist mama! Sarah's thesis was entitled "Improving Professional Skills in Soil Science Outreach through Experiential Service-Learning Initiatives".

Erika defended her thesis, entitled "Evaluating Soil Carbon Pools and Losses in Long-Term Organic and Conventional Farming Systems" on October 2nd. Erika will be leaving us in a few short weeks to begin her new position as a fellow with the EPA in D.C.

We have really enjoyed having these two wonderful women as a part of our lab and will miss them both tremendously. Good luck you two!

 Erika's defense seminar

Sarah's congratulatory dinner!

Arun and his SARE!

Congratulations to Arun, who just found out he was awarded a graduate student SARE grant to investigate legume cover crop root contributions in organic systems. Way to go, Arun!

Congratulations, Erika!

One of our own, Erika Larsen, was just offered a position at the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water as an Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education Fellow. She will be working at the Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds conducting research activities related to the environmental impact of non-point source pollution. Way to go, Erika!

Congratulations Erika!

Congratulations to Erika Larsen for receiving the 2012 Eugene J. Kamprath Soil Science Scholarship! Great job, Erika!

Congratulations Matthew!

Congratulations to Matthew Brown for receiving first place on his poster delivered at the Soil Science Society of North Carolina Annual Meeting!