Dr. Upendra M. Sainju has worked as a Research Soil Scientist in dry land and irrigated cropping systems for the past 14 years in the United States Department of Agriculture, ARS, Northern Plains Agriculture Research Library, Sidney, Montana. Before this, he worked in postdoctoral positions and as visiting scientist at Rutgers University, Washington State University, Fort Valley State University, and Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, an M.S. from the University of Florida, and a B.S. from the University of Udaipur, India. He is nationally and internationally renowned for developing soil and crop management practices that increase crop yields and quality, sequester C and N in the soil, increase organic matter, improve soil quality and productivity, reduce N fertilization rate and N leaching, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Over the past 30 years, he has conducted extensive research on the effects of tillage, cropping systems, cover crops, N fertilization rates, poultry litter application, sheep grazing, and irrigation on soil C and N cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, and crop yields. He served as an Assistant Soil Scientist and Agronomist at the Department of Agriculture, Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1973. His research accomplishments have been documented in 121 refereed journal articles, 12 book chapters, 18 proceedings, 30 popular press, four technical reports, and 130 abstracts. He has actively participated in ASA and SSSA by serving as ASA community leader (Soil Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Emissions), committees (ASA and SSSA Fellows Committees, Best Paper Review Committee, Applied Soil Science Award Committee, Environmental Quality Award Committee), meetings (session chair, moderator, and paper presentation), journal (AJ, SSSAJ, and JEQ) reviewer, and Associate and Academic Editor in Agronomy Journal (2009 – 2012), Journal of Environmental Quality (2015 – 2016), and PLOS ONE (2014 – 2016). He received SSSA Fellow (2014) and ASA Fellow (2015). Currently, he is engaged in developing novel soil and crop management practices that enhance C sequestration and N cycling, reduce N fertilization rate and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions while sustaining dryland and irrigated crop yields and quality for the semiarid regions in the northern Great Plains, USA. He has received numerous scholarships and fellowships, including the “most outstanding researcher” award at Fort Valley State University, a USDA certificate of merit for superior performance (2011 – 2016), a certificate of recognition for organizing, and for a phenomenal and noteworthy keynote presentation, in 5th International Conference on Agriculture and Horticulture, June 27-29, 2016, Cape Town, South Africa, and is the recipient of several grants totaling more than $5 million.
Dr. Sainju has been awarded several distinguished awards and honors for proficiency in the field. He receives the Outstanding Scientist Award for Scientific Paper Publications, State University of Fort Valley, GA; USDA-ARS Certificate of Merit Award, 2019; Soil Science Society of America Fellow, 2014; American Society of Agronomy Fellow, 2015. Dr. Sainju has received many grants, including $999,922 from USDA-NIFA-AFRI, in collaboration with Fort Valley State University for “Carbon Sequestration and Nitrogen Cycling for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation, by Southeastern US Annual and Perennial Energy Crops,” out of which ARS, Sidney, MT received $125,000 (2011). He was also awarded $742,907 from USDA-NIFA-AFRI, in collaboration with Montana State University, for “Reducing tillage intensity in organic crop systems: ecological and economic impacts of targeted sheep grazing on cover crops, weeds, soil health, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gas emissions.”
Dr. Sainju has contributed by publishing and presenting dozens of scholarly articles in reputed journals. He has reviewed more than 2000 scientific papers for soil, environment, and water conversation publications. He has also reviewed ten research proposals for funding approval from USDA animal manure management, Ohio State University, the University of California, and the California Department of Agriculture. He has organized and chaired more than 25 sessions in Soil and Water Management and Conservation in various professional meetings, Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, and Dryland Cropping Systems.
Dr. Upendra M. Sainju: Researcher and Senior Soil Scientist from Montana.
