By Sara Ludwick, Environmental Science and Management, 2019

Author’s note: I read about Dr. Scow’s research while looking for a faculty member to interview for a class assignment. She is a professor of Soil Science and Microbial Ecology at UC Davis, and her research emphasizes microorganisms’ roles in providing ecosystems services. Dr. Scow was featured in an article on a UC Davis website about carbon sequestration as a tactic to address climate change, and from there I discovered Russell Ranch, where she serves as Director (1). I immediately became interested in the variety of experiments conducted on the experimental farm, and began to learn more about Dr. Scow’s work. Her work is extensive; in addition to directing Russell Ranch, she actively works with Ugandan smallholder farms on irrigation. I sat down with Dr. Scow to discuss her passion for soil, what her research has taught her, how her relationship with soil has evolved, and what other people can learn from the powerful ecosystem that lives underground. (more…)