Charles W. Rice

Charles W. Rice, university distinguished professor of soil microbiology, has conducted long-term research on soil organic matter dynamics, nitrogen transformations, and microbial ecology.

Recently, his research has focused on soil and global climate change, including C and N emissions in agricultural and grassland ecosystems, and soil carbon sequestration and its potential benefits to the ecosystem.

Internationally, Rice was a member of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He also is one of five team leaders for a $20 million Kansas NSF EPSCoR project researching global climate change and renewable energy research. Rice leads the group that will use climate modeling strategies for adaption and mitigation.

Rice’s research has been supported by more than $30 million in grants from the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Energy, as well as the National Science Foundation and others. He has advised more than 40 graduate students and has more than 100 publications.

Rice earned his bachelor’s from Northern Illinois University and his doctorate from the University of Kentucky. He joined the Kansas State University faculty in 1988 and was promoted to associate professor in 1993 and to professor in 1998. He was named a university distinguished professor in 2009.

In addition to his involvement in research and teaching in soil microbiology at K-State, Rice has been active with the Soil Science Society of America, where he served as president in 2011. He currently serves on the National Academies Board on Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Air Quality Task Force.

He chairs the Division on The Role of Soils in Sustaining Society and the Environment of the International Union of Soil Sciences. He also is a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.