The Physics of SOIL
Structure, Organization, and Interactions of Living-SOILs
Recent Publications
Precipitation Disruption: When the Rhythm of the Rain Throws Soil Organic Matter Off-Beat.
Min et al,
New Phytologist
Soil Structure Changes Under Reduced Tillage and Cover Cropping Enhance Carbon ...
Alavarez-Sagrero et al,
Vadose Zone J. (in press)
Defining Soil Science: Balancing Fundamental Research and Societal Needs
Ghezzehei, T.A. and A.A. Berhe
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.
Impact of Almond Shell Biochar Properties and Application Rate on Soil Physical and ...
Thao,T, VD Lopez, et al.
Sustainable Environment
Soil Science-Informed Machine Learning
Minasny, B. et al.
Geoderma
Biochar Impacts on Soil Moisture Retention and Respiration in a Coarse ...
Thao, T. et al.
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.
Nitrogen and phosphorus mineralization dynamics in human excreta-derived fertilizers
Bischak, E. et al.
Frontiers in Agronomy
Learning Constitutive Relations From Soil Moisture Data via Physically Constrained Neural ...
Bandai, T. et al.
Water Resources Research
Carbon stock quantification in a floodplain restoration chronosequence along a ...
Clifton, B. et al.
Science of Total Environment
No-tillage, surface residue retention, and cover crops improved San Joaquin Valley ...
Mitchell, J. et al.
California Agriculture
Estimating soil hydraulic properties from oven-dry to full saturation using shortwave ...
Bandai, T. et al.
Journal of Hydrology
A novel approach for determining soil carbohydrates using UV spectrophotometry
Albalasmeh, A.A. et al.
J. Saudi Soc. Agric. Sci.
Soil physics matters for the land–water–food–climate nexus and sustainability
Wang, G. et al.
Eur. J. Soil Sci.
Methane and nitrous oxide emissions during biochar-composting are driven by ...
Harrison, B. et al.
GCB-Bioenergy
The effects of different biochar-dairy manure co-composts on soil moisture ...
Thao, T. et al.
Agro. Geo. & Environ.
Biochar co-compost improves nitrogen retention and reduces carbon emissions in a winter wheat...
Gao, S. et al.
GCB-Bioenergy
How does soil structure affect water infiltration? A meta-data systematic review
Basset, C. et al.
Soil & Tillage Res.
Forward & inverse modeling of water flow in unsaturated soils with discontinuous hydraulic conduc....
Bandai, T & Ghezzehei, T.A.
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.
Artificial soils reveal individual factor controls on microbial processes.
Del Valle, I. et al.
mSystems
Dairy Manure Co-composting with Wood Biochar Plays a Critical Role in Meeting Global Methane Goals
Harrison, B.P. et al.
Env. Sci. & Tech.
Long-Term Impact of Cover Crop & Reduced Disturbance Tillage on Soil Pore Size & Soil Water Storage
Araya, S.A. et al.
SOIL
Confronting the water potential information gap.
Novik, K.A. et al.
Nature Geoscience
Synergy between compost & cover crops in a Mediterranean row crop system leads to increased subsoil...
Rath, D. et al.
SOIL
No-tillage sorghum and garbanzo yields match or exceed standard tillage yields
Mitchell, J.P. et al.
California Agriculture
Intercropping with Guiera senegalensis in a semi-arid area to mitigate early-season abiotic stress...
Bayala, R. et al.
J. Agronomy & Crop Sci.
An overlooked local resource--Shrub-intercropping for food production, drought resistance and ecosystem...
Bright, MBH, et al.
Agricul., Ecosys. & Env.
Advances in soil moisture retrieval from multispectral remote sensing using unoccupied aircraft systems...
Araya, S.A., et al.
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.,
Physics-informed neural networks with monotocnicity constraints for Richardson-Richards equation...
Bandai, T. & T.A. Ghezzehei
Water Resour. Res.
Root uptake under mismatched distributions of water and nutrients in the root zone.
Yan, J. et al.
Biogeosciences
Modeling Near-surface Water Redistribution in a Desert Soil.
Luo, Y. et al.
Vadose Zone Journal
Updates & News
Yulissa Defends PhD Dissertation
Dr. Yulissa Perez-Rojas successfully defends her dissertation on scale integration challenges in carbon predictions, addressing systematic biases across scales.
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Jennifer defended dissertation
Dr. Jennifer Alvarez-Sagrero defended her dissertation on soil health and physical protection of organic matter under long-term conservation management.
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PhD Hooding Ceremony
Celebrating Jennifer Perez-Rojas and Yulissa Alvarez-Sagrero as they participate in PhD hooding cermony, an important milestone. Congratulations
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Let’s BRAAG about Jalynn
NASA ACRES blog--Let’s BRAAG about Jalynn Greer, a Kentucky State University Scholar who is Bridging a Career Path in Nursing and Agriculture success!
Read MoreBluesky Updates
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Research Areas
Sustainable Agriculture
Reduced tillage systems, cover cropping strategies, and organic amendments to enhance soil structure, water retention, and agricultural sustainability.
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Soil Structure & Carbon Dynamics
Fundamental research on soil aggregation processes, structure formation, and carbon cycling mechanisms that control soil physical and chemical properties.
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Physics-Constrained AI
Development of novel machine learning models that incorporate physical principles and constraints to predict soil behavior and environmental processes.
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Water Flow & Hydraulics
Characterizing and modeling water movement in unsaturated soils, from measurement techniques to advanced numerical simulations of infiltration and redistribution.
Learn More →Courses
ES 200 Environmental Systems
A comprehensive overview of environmental systems, exploring the complex interactions between physical, biological, and social components. This course examines fundamental principles of systems thinking applied to environmental challenges, with emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability science. Graduate.
Recent Offering: Fall 2025
ESS 110 Hydrology & Climate
Basics of the hydrological cycle and the global climate system. Fundamentals of surface water hydrology, hydrometeorology, evaporation, precipitation, statistical and probabilistic methods, unit hydrograph and flood routing. Undergraduate.
Recent Offering: Fall 2024, 2025
ES 212 Subsurface Hydrology (Archive)
Hydrologic and geologic factors controlling the occurrence and use of groundwater on regional and local scales. Physical, mathematical, geologic and engineering concepts fundamental to subsurface hydrologic processes. Introduction to ground-water flow and transport modeling. Graduate.
Recent Offering: Spring 2025
