Research Interests
My teaching and research relates to soil fertility, with particular emphasis on the fate and behavior of soil and fertilizer nitrogen. Partial funding is generated through an analysis service for N-15 using an automated mass spectrometer. Current research topics include the development and evaluation of a simple soil test for amino sugars—as a means to detect field sites that do not need nitrogen fertilization, chemical nature and dynamics of soil amino sugars, relationship of soil amino sugar content and composition to manure application, and the microbial basis for rapid nitrification of urea nitrogen applied to soil.

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Academic Interests/Expertise
My teaching and research relates to soil fertility, with particular emphasis on the fate and behavior of soil and fertilizer nitrogen; partial funding for this work is generated through an analysis service for N-15 using an automated mass spectrometer in my laboratory; current research topics include the effects of nitrogen fertilizers on denitrification, microbial transformations of nitrogen-containing pesticides, and the development of simple diffusion methods of determining nitrogen in soils, plant materials, and water samples.

Other Activities
Editor, Soil Science Society of America Journal

Richard L. Mulvaney