Research/Discovery

Cropping Systems and Plant Nutrition

Faculty and students create and develop management systems that enhance crop production and economic efficiency related to crop, soil, and surroundings for the agriculture producer.

• Crop Physiology
• Soil Physical Properties
• Crop Management
• Soil Fertility
• Applied Meteorology
• Spatial Technologies

Environmental Soils and Landscape Processes

Research and education in this area focus on processes and development of measures to control soil erosion and contamination of soil and water from organic and inorganic sources .   Studies occur at scales that range from the atomic to study molecular bonding to the atmosphere using remote sensing to study entire landscapes.  

• Fate and Transport of Contaminants in Soils
• Soil Remediation
• Remote Sensing of Soil Resources and Earth Observations
• Soil Erosion
• Soil Classification, Mapping, Survey
• Soil Chemistry/ Mineralogy
• Soil Biology and Biochemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Waste Management

Genetic Improvement of Economic Crops

Research and education that uses both basic and applied science to study how genes affect the growth of plants and their resistance to disease, drought, and insects, how plants can be designed to improve human and animal nutrition, and how plants can be developed for non-traditional purposes such as bio fuels, construction materials, and pharmaceuticals.

• Structural Genomics
• Functional Genomics
• Computational Genomics
• Comparative Genomics
• Plant Breeding

Turf and the Urban Interface

Research and education in this area at Purdue is concentrated in two areas: 1) the science of residential and recreational turfgrass management, and 2) the development of effective septic systems to effectively manage waste in rural areas .

• Turfgrass Science
• Residential Waste Management