Rattan Lal is professor of soil science and founder and director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at The Ohio State University.
His work focuses on the potential of soils to help solve critical global challenges, including climate change, food security and water quality. In 2019, Lal was awarded the Japan Prize, one of the most prestigious honors in science and technology, in recognition of his research on sustainable soil management and its role in improving global food security and mitigating climate change. He was the first soil scientist to ever receive this prize.
Lal also has received the Glinka World Soil Prize from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Agriculture Prize from the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences.