Building connections beyond the boundaries of campus, partnering with peer scholars to further inquiry and creating opportunities for students has led West Virginia University professor James Thompson to receive the National Cooperative Soil Survey’s Cooperator Achievement Award.

Thompson, a professor of pedology and land use in WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, was recognized by the Natural Resources Conservation Service at the organization’s recent meeting in Duluth, Minn.

“Jim is a tireless advocate for partnerships that advance soil science, conservation, education, and the National Cooperative Soil Survey,” said David Kingsbury, Soil Service Region 6 Director for the NRCS and a WVU alumnus. “Jim has promoted a strong partnership between West Virginia University, NRCS, and the US Forest Service that has resulted in many cooperative projects being undertaken.”

Thompson has built partnerships throughout West Virginia, across the U.S., and around the world with professionals in the fields of soil management and land use planning. He’s working for a better understanding of why soils vary from place to place and how to use this information to make better decisions.
He and his students are trying to create better soil maps and to establish ecological site inventories in the eastern U.S. that will make soil science information accessible across disciplines. He also participates in the GlobalSoilMap project.

On the teaching front, Thompson coaches the WVU Soils Team. In 2006, he led his team to a national championship at the National Collegiate Soils Contest in California, where WVU also had the individual national champion. The team was subsequently enshrined in the West Virginia Agriculture and Forestry Hall of Fame. WVU students have gone to the national contest every year since 2006. Over that time they’ve earned five top-five finishes. In 2012 Thompson organized and hosted the National Collegiate Soils Contest at WVU, working cooperatively with staff from the U.S. Forest Service, NRCS and WVU.

As adviser to the WVU Plant and Soil Sciences Club, Jim promoted and helped advance the design and construction of a traveling display that educates and celebrates the 2015 International Year of Soil. The display will reach nearly every part of the WVU campus and is currently at the Mountainlair.

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CONTACT: David Welsh, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design
304.293.2394, David.Welsh@mail.wvu.edu

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