February 21, 2023
Project Director in the Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab Awarded the Presidential Award of the Crop Science Society of America
Elizabeth “Beth” Guertal, the project director of the Center of Excellence on Mitigation, Adaptation, and Resilience to Climate Change (CEMARCH) in the Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (SIIL) at Kansas State University, has been awarded the Presidential Award of the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), at the organization’s 2022 annual meeting held in Baltimore, Maryland.
“This award is a true recognition of the hard work over many years and leadership of Dr. Guertal to CSSA,” said Vara Prasad, director of the Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, university distinguished professor, and R.O. Kruse Professor of Agriculture at K-State. “I am happy that she is part of the SIIL family and supporting our education, research and outreach activities.”
Guertal has been highly involved in the CSSA organization and is a CSSA Past President of the organization from January 2020 through December 2020. In 2021, Guertal was awarded the Fred V. Grau Turfgrass Science Award.
Prior to being the project director of CEMARCH with the SIIL at K-State, Guertal was employed at Auburn University where she worked for 28 years as a faculty member in the department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, and where she also served as a Rowe Endowed Professor. Guertal received her B.S. and M.S. degrees from The Ohio State University, and her Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. Her research program focuses on soil fertility issues in turfgrass management.
Guertal served as the editor in chief for Agronomy publications through the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), served as a technical editor for Crop Science, and also served as an associate editor for the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) Journal, Crop Science (CSSA) and Agronomy Journal (ASA). She is a past chair of division C-5 (Turfgrass Management, CSSA) a Fulbright Fellow, and a Fellow of CSSA, SSSA, and ASA.
The CSSA, founded in 1956, is a progressive international scientific society with over 4,000 members. The CSSA fosters the vision to improve the world through crop science with its members dedicated to discover and apply plant science solutions to improve the human condition and protect the planet. Crop science is highly integrative and employs the disciplines of conventional plant breeding, plant physiology, and cropping system sciences to develop and improve varieties of agronomic, turfgrass, and forage crops to produce feed, fiber, food, and fuel.