Publications update

The ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Publications Department is pleased to announce the recent appointments and reappointments of journal editors and the chair of the Book and Multimedia Publishing Committee beginning in 2023.

Venkat Lakshmi—Appointed Vadose Zone Journal Editor

Dr. Venkat Lakshmi has been appointed to his first term as Editor of Vadose Zone Journal (VZJ). He graduated from the University of Roorkee in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a doctorate in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1996 from Princeton. He worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a research scientist in the Laboratory for the Atmospheres. His areas of research interest are catchment hydrology, satellite data validation and assimilation, field experiments, land–atmosphere interactions, satellite data downscaling, vadose zone, and water resources.

Lakshmi is currently the John L. Newcomb Professor of Engineering in the Department of Engineering Systems and the Environment at the University of Virginia. He has served as Cox Visiting Professor at Stanford University and Program Director for Hydrologic Sciences at the National Science Foundation. Lakshmi is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Geological Society of America (GSA); has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and given 500 presentations; and served as thesis supervisor for 25 graduate students. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Remote Sensing in Earth System Science. Lakshmi has served on the National Academies Panel for the Decadal Survey of Earth Observations from Space (NASA) and as chair of the planning committee for Groundwater Recharge and Flow: Approaches and Challenges for Monitoring and Modeling Using Remotely Sensed Data (NGA). He is currently serving as a member of the Water Science and Technology Board for the National Academy of Sciences and member of the Earth Science Advisory Committee for NASA.

Hero Gollany—Appointed Methods of Soil Analysis Editor

Dr. Hero Gollany, Ph.D. and CPSS, has been appointed as Editor of the article and book series Methods of Soil Analysis. She is a research soil scientist with USDA-ARS located in Adams, OR; the U.S. Cropland Research Group Co-Chair for the Global Research Alliance for Agricultural Greenhouse Gases; and project lead of the USDA-ARS National Program 212: Soil and Air, which is aimed at understanding the effects of and preparing agriculture to adapt to climate change. Gollany was a member of the Methods of Soil Analysis Committee from 2014–2019.

Doug Smith—Reappointed as Journal of Environmental Quality Editor

Dr. Doug Smith, research soil scientist at the USDA-ARS Grassland Soil & Water Research Laboratory in Temple, TX, has been reappointed for a second term as Editor of the Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ). Smith has been a member of ASA and SSSA for more than 20 years. He has been on the board of JEQ since 2012 and has also served as Associate Editor for Agricultural & Environmental Letters. Smith was elected an ASA Fellow in 2020. He has served on the Organization, Policy and Bylaws Committee and as Chair of the Carl Sprengel Agronomic Research Award as well as the Environmental Quality Research Award for ASA. Smith served on the Emerging Issues in Soil Science Committee for SSSA and was Chair of the Nutrients and Environmental Quality Community for ASA.

Maja Krzic—Reappointed as Natural Sciences Education Editor

Dr. Maja Krzic has been reappointed for a second term as Editor of Natural Sciences Education (NSE). Krzic, who works at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Land & Food Systems (Vancouver, Canada), has served as the NSE Editor since January 2020, and her experience includes many years as an author and six years as an Associate Editor for the journal. Since her appointment as NSE Editor, the journal has published two successful special sections with another currently under development. Her plans for the journal include enhancing the exposure of NSE by continuing to publish quality special sections and commission more invited papers.

Will Horwath—Reappointed as Soil Science Society of America Journal Editor

Dr. William Horwath been reappointed for a second term as Editor of the Soil Science Society of America Journal (SSSAJ). Horwath holds a B.S. from Southern Illinois University in Forestry/Environmental Impact Assessment and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Crop and Soil Science and Forest Ecology. Since 1996, he has taught for the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources at the University of California–Davis (UC-Davis) where he is currently a Professor of Soils and Biogeochemistry. Horwath has been a leader in sustainable agriculture research at UC-Davis, including the Sustainable Agriculture Farming Systems project for which he has been director since 2003. Since 2008, Horwath has served as the James G. Boswell Endowed Chair in Soil Science, a position expected to conduct research in soil science related to sustainable agriculture in California and provide leadership in integrating application of soil science principles to agriculture and natural resource challenges at farm and regional scales in California. He was named an SSSA Fellow in 2009 and has served on the board of SSSAJ since 2005.

Girisha Ganjegunte—Reappointed as Books and Multimedia Committee Chair

Dr. Girisha K. Ganjegunte has been reappointed for a second term as Chair of the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Books and Multimedia Committee. He is a Professor of Water Resources and Salinity Management with the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University (TAMU) and is located at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center, El Paso, TX. He has more than 20 years of research experience in the areas of salinity management, irrigation water quality, and soil carbon sequestration. Ganjegunte’s research program specializes in salinity assessment and management, beneficial uses of waters with elevated salinity, and on-farm water conservation. He has trained and mentored more than 25 students, postdoctoral scientists, and technicians.

Ganjegunte currently serves as an Associate Editor for JEQ. He is the recipient of several awards, including the 2018 Research Faculty Award of TAMU’s Soil and Crop Science Department; Special Honor Award at the 2019 ICAR-CSSRI Golden Jubilee International Salinity Conference; and Outstanding Young Agricultural Scientist Award by AASIO. Ganjegunte received his Ph.D. in Soil Science from Lincoln University, New Zealand. Prior to joining TAMU, he worked at the University of Wyoming and Tata Energy Research Institute, India.