PULLMAN, – Bill Pan, professor of soil science and chair of the crop and soil sciences department at WSU, has been named a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy.
Selection as fellow is the highest honor the society can bestow on a member. Pan will be recognized at the 2007 international meetings of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop and Soil Science Society and Soil Science Society of America next November in New Orleans.
Pan joined the WSU faculty in 1984 and has served as department chair since 2002.
His research focuses on nutrient cycling and root ecology of cereal-based cropping systems. His recent collaborations with the University of Washington are leading to commercial integration of the agricultural and pulp paper industries for addressing resource use, and environmental and energy issues faced by both industries.
He and his colleagues also have developed algorithms for analyzing dimensions of digital images of plant roots that are employed in commercial root analysis as well as a component analysis of nitrogen use efficiency of cropping systems.
Pan has served as associate and technical editor of the Journal of Production Agriculture, president of the Western Society of Soil Science, and S-4 Division chair for SSSA. He is author or co-author of 46 refereed journal articles, seven book chapters, and 150 abstracts and technical reports. He has taught the principles of soil fertility and mineral nutrition to more than 800 undergraduate and graduate students and served as major advisor for 20 graduate students.
Pan earned his bachelor’s of science in biochemistry at University of Wisconsin, a master’s of science in agronomy at University of Missouri and his doctorate in soil science at North Carolina State University.
