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National news release

about Sauer's research (Jan. 2003)

Sauer Among ARS' Outstanding Research Scientists

BELTSVILLE, Md., Feb. 12—The Agricultural Research Service has named soil scientist Thomas J. Sauer as the Midwest Area Early Career Scientist of the Year for 2002.

Sauer works in the Soil and Water Quality Research Unit at the ARS National Soil Tilth Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. He is being honored for outstanding research accomplishments in soil management and watershed processes leading to improved environmental quality.

ARS is the chief scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Sauer's research has led to management practices that improve environmental quality. His work on crop residue and its impact on the over-winter energy exchange processes formed the basis for a study on tillage practices being conducted in cooperation with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and seven producers across Iowa.

Sauer's evaluation of the availability of phosphorus from different soil and manure combinations has helped livestock and crop producers understand some of the variation they have observed in that nutrient's responses across fields.

In addition, his studies on the hydrologic impacts of transporting nutrients across watersheds in Arkansas and Iowa led to the development of a model that predicts the environmental risk from phosphorus over-application.

Sauer started his ARS career in 1993, as a research associate at the Soil Tilth Laboratory. He served as a soil scientist with the agency's Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit in Fayetteville, Ark., for three years, starting in 1996, before returning to the Soil Tilth lab.

A native of Fulda, Minn., Sauer was a Fulbright Scholar at Massey University in New Zealand in 1986. He has earned three degrees in soil science: a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point in 1982, as well as an M.S. in 1985 and a Ph.D. in 1993 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Sauer also earned the USDA Superior Performance Award in 1998 and 1999.