Lal is the first Ohio State scientist and the first soil scientist to ever receive the prize. He is Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science at the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. President Michael V. Drake traveled to Japan with Lal for the award ceremony. 

The Japan Prize is awarded annually to scientists and engineers from around the world who have made significant contributions to the advancement of science and technology, thereby furthering the cause of peace and prosperity of mankind.

Lal, whose career in science spans five decades and five continents, was honored for his research on sustainable soil management and its role in improving global food security and mitigating climate change.

Global food security is a growing issue because Earth’s population is expected to increase to near 10 billion people by 2050.

Climate change is a concern because of its harmful effects, which include warming temperatures, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and weather extremes, experts say.

Previous Coverage: Japan Prize goes to Ohio State soil scientist Rattan Lal

The plan, Time and Change: Enable, Empower and Inspire, is based on five pillars of focus and builds on the university’s existing strengths – including a vibrant student experience, research excellence, athletic prowess and a highly engaged Buckeye family.

“We are very proud to partner with the Board of Trustees and our entire university community to develop a roadmap for accelerated excellence here at The Ohio State University,” President Michael V. Drake said. “The plan is meant to be transformative and to further distinguish us as a leading public research university.”

In a move that is unusual in higher education, Drake directed the university to create an institutional Strategy Management Office to pursue a disciplined and inclusive approach to the implementation of the plan. With this structure in place, Ohio State has seen notable milestones in each part of the plan since its approval in August 2017.

Veteran medical center strategist Gail Marsh was appointed to lead the office as the university’s first chief strategy officer. Marsh works to make sure all plans are integrated, including the university’s long-term financial plan, facilities master plan, student enrollment strategy and other plans that support the overall vision and aspiration of the university.

The office also works with leaders and trustees to track the progress of each pillar of the plan and update priorities after analyzing trends in higher education to assure the plan remains relevant.

“Gail, along with President Drake, has worked very hard to ensure that the strategic plan is a living, breathing document and something we live by each day,” said Board of Trustees Chairman Michael Gasser.

The first pillar of the plan calls for Ohio State to be an exemplar of the best teaching in higher education. Some of the highlights include 14 new undergraduate majors or tracks within majors added since 2017. First-year retention increased from 94.2 percent for the entering class of 2016 to 94.5 percent for the class of 2017. There is an innovative plan underway to improve that position.

The new Teaching Support Program, offered through the University Institute for Teaching and Learning, is an optional professional development program providing additional support for teaching faculty and their work in the classroom. The program features a monetary incentive to boost the pay of the faculty who choose to enroll and is believed to be unique in the nation for implementing a research-based survey instrument on effective teaching practices across the entire institution.

“Why are we doing this? We’re doing this to help us as a university to be better teachers and to help our students have better experiences,” Drake said at a recent meeting with faculty to discuss the program. “That’s the goal.”

The effort to help students succeed is paying off. According to the 2018 Global University Employability Ranking, employers ranked Ohio State second among U.S. public universities in student employability.

Time and Change also continues the university’s mission of access, affordability and excellence. The goal of the second pillar of the plan is to improve Ohio State’s position as a leading public university offering an excellent, affordable education and promoting economic diversity.

In the last year, Ohio State announced the Buckeye Opportunity Program to ensure that thousands of Ohio students who qualify for Pell Grants receive an aid package that covers at least the full cost of tuition and mandatory fees. The university also expanded the Land Grant Opportunity Scholarship to cover the full cost of attendance and increase annual eligibility for the scholarship to as many as 176 students. Need-based aid has increased by more than $100 million since 2015.

The third pillar of the strategic plan directs Ohio State to continue to be among the top national and international public universities in research and creative expression to drive significant advances for critical societal challenges. That effort has included some notable achievements.

The university is ranked third among public and private universities in industry-sponsored research, moving up one spot since 2017. Ohio State ranks 11th in research expenditures among all public institutions, also an improvement since 2017.

Those aren’t the only rankings where Ohio State is seeing success. Ten separate medical specialties were ranked by U.S. News & World Report in 2018. The university has boosted diversity in enrollment as women made up 52 percent of the newest College of Medicine class, and 24 percent of the students in that class are under-represented minorities.

Those accomplishments support the fourth pillar of the strategic plan: a focus on academic health care to ensure the Wexner Medical Center will continue to enable breakthrough health care solutions to improve people’s lives.

Last year, Ohio State announced the development of a new hospital and ambulatory center that, combined with modern educational space, will enhance a unified Wexner Medical Center complex providing cutting-edge research, outstanding clinical training and world-class patient care.

The ambitious plan for a new inpatient tower and outpatient care facility would be the largest single facilities project ever undertaken at Ohio State and comes as the university experiences greater-than-ever demand for patient care, clinical trials and health-science education.

“Together, these projects advance key strategic focus areas for the university, including teaching and learning, research and creative expression, and academic health care,” Bruce A. McPheron, executive vice president and provost, said when the projects were announced. “Ohio State continues to be committed to defining the flagship public research university in the 21st century.”

The strategic plan also calls on the university to remain committed to the best practices in resource stewardship, operational effectiveness, and efficiency and innovation. Ohio State’s innovative 50-year partnership to improve energy management and sustainability is a highlight of that commitment.

On July 6, 2017, Ohio State transferred management of the systems that heat, cool and power the Columbus campus to ENGIE Services to operate on behalf of Ohio State Energy Partners. The partnership included a $1.015 billion upfront payment to the university and a $150 million commitment to support academic priorities.

And Ohio State reported record-breaking generosity from Buckeye Nation, ending the most recent fiscal year with $601.8 million in gifts to education, medicine, research, athletics and innovation. Nearly 270,000 donors contributed to advancing Ohio State’s mission. Total fundraising was up 14 percent from the previous year.

The results are getting notice. A new performance audit by the Auditor of State’s office highlighted the university’s ongoing commitment to fiscal responsibility.

Rattan Lal, a soil scientist at The Ohio State University, has been awarded the 2019 Japan Prize, considered one of the most prestigious honors in science and technology.

Lal is the first Ohio State scientist and the first soil scientist to ever receive the prize. He is Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science at the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

The Japan Prize recognizes scientists and engineers from around the world for original and outstanding achievements that “not only contribute to the advancement of science and technology, but also promote peace and prosperity for all mankind,” the Japan Prize Foundation said today in announcing the award.

Lal, whose career in science spans five decades and five continents, was honored for his research on sustainable soil management and its role in improving global food security and mitigating climate change.

Global food security is a growing issue because Earth’s population is expected to increase to near 10 billion people by 2050.

Climate change is a concern because of its harmful effects, which include warming temperatures, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and weather extremes, experts say.

SELECTION IS HIGHLY COMPETITIVE

The selection process for the Japan Prize is highly competitive, with about 15,000 nominees vying for two awards every year, the foundation said. Polymer scientist Yoshio Okamoto of Japan’s Nagoya University also received the award this year.

Lal was informed of the honor by a call from the Japanese consulate, he said.

“My first thought was ‘Wow!’ ” Lal said. “I wanted to be sure that I was awake and it was not a prank call.”

Lal is a faculty member in CFAES’ School of Environment and Natural Resources, where he conducts research on topics such as soil processes, soil degradation, and sustainable management of soil and water. He works both in Ohio and internationally. Soil degradation, a worldwide problem, includes a wide range of issues such as wind and water erosion, declines in soil fertility, organic matter loss, and contamination by chemicals.

Lal also is the founder and director of SENR’s Carbon Management and Sequestration Center and is the past president of the 60,000-member International Union of Soil Sciences. He was born in Punjab, India (now part of Pakistan), and first came to Ohio State in 1968 to work on his PhD in soils.

FOOD SECURITY, CLIMATE CHANGE

“The Ohio State University is proud that Professor Rattan Lal has been awarded the Japan Prize. As one of the world’s preeminent soil scientists, Professor Lal’s research and insights will continue to have a profound and enduring impact on global food security in the decades to come,” said Bruce A. McPheron, executive vice president and provost.

“Those of us at the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences are enormously proud of our colleague, Dr. Rattan Lal, and his incredible achievements. He is a distinguished scientist, with a prolific research portfolio, but he considers his primary contributions to be the many graduate students who have worked in his lab,” said Vice President for Agricultural Administration and Dean of CFAES Cathann A. Kress.

“His story is one of perseverance, dedication, and humility—culminating in the recognition of Dr. Lal as one of the most influential scientists in the world,” Kress said.

LOCKING UP CARBON IN THE SOIL

In announcing the award, the Japan Prize Foundation cited Lal’s pioneering research on no-tillage agriculture—a way to grow crops from year to year without disturbing the soil by tilling—and on methods to sequester, or lock up, carbon dioxide in the soil, such as by planting cover crops and spreading compost. Sequestering carbon dioxide removes it from the atmosphere, a plus in the fight against climate change. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which has continued to hit record high levels, is a primary cause of climate change.

The foundation said Lal has shown ways to manage both climate change and soil degradation “while improving environmental quality and addressing the critical issue of feeding the Earth’s population.”

SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL ISSUES

Taken together, the issues of sustainable soil management, global food security, and mitigating climate change “truly sum up my career,” Lal said. “I have a strong commitment to these ideas, and I am so glad that they are mentioned in the award.”

Lal said the prize is “recognition of the importance of these themes and supports the concept that soil management and agriculture are solutions to the global issues of the 21st century.”

He added that the honor “emphasizes the importance of the farming profession and is a tribute to farmers for their role as stewards of our natural resources and environment.”

Lal and Okamoto will be honored in a ceremony on April 8 in Tokyo, whose thousand-plus attendees will include Japan’s Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Lal and Okamoto will give lectures and participate in academic discussions during the ceremony week.

The prize carries with it a cash award of $450,000, which Lal plans to donate to an endowment supporting staffing at the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center.

Lal also recently received the Glinka World Soil Prize from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Agriculture Prize from the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences. He plans to donate the prizes’ cash awards to the carbon center as well.

“This is indeed going to be the new front door to the university,” said Alex Fischer, chair of the Master Planning and Facilities Committee.

The two projects are separate but complement one another. Campus Partners is leading work on the east side of High Street to bring retail and office space to the corridor while the university’s plans for the west side of High Street continue to progress through design of an Arts District featuring performance spaces, academic spaces, student gathering and support spaces along College Road between 15^th and 18^th Avenues.

The Arts District on campus envisions high-quality, modern learning environments for interaction across arts disciplines. Included are new facilities for the School of Music and Department of Theatre, which will feature a home for the new Moving Image Production program. The Arts District is part of Framework 2.0, a plan for the physical environment of the Columbus campus guided and informed by Ohio State’s Time and Change strategic plan.

“This is nothing short of spectacular,” said Trustee Timothy Smucker. “This is all about the culture of the university.”

The $160 million project will also extend Annie and John Glenn Avenue from College Road to High Street and is expected to finish in 2021.

“The gallery space along College Avenue will be really dramatic when completed,” said Keith Myers, Ohio State’s vice president of Planning and Real Estate.

Campus Partners, the university-affiliated nonprofit, has an equally dramatic vision for its 15+HIGH project. One of the renderings presented showed the new building that will serve as the home of WOSU Public Media.

The development includes a new public space, University Square and development of a “signature building,” envisioned as a hotel, featuring direct sightlines to The Oval and William Oxley Thompson Library. A reimagined Pearl Alley will serve as a retail corridor with new stores and restaurants.

“Pearl Alley is the cooler, hipper space,” Myers said. “It will be a completely different experience than the Pearl Alley people are familiar with today.”

The 15+HIGH project has begun public improvements that increase pedestrian safety, facilitate vehicular traffic and improve stormwater management. Additional public infrastructure improvements are being planned and will begin construction as well in 2019.