Joey Shaw, assistant professor in Auburn University’s Department of Agronomy and Soils, considers himself a fortunate man. “I’ve been really lucky everywhere I’ve been to school and worked because I’ve learned something from these experiences that has furthered my career and my research interests,” he said.

Shaw grew up in Virginia on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His appreciation of soils and agriculture began on his grandfather’s farm. “I used to enjoy visiting him because he would take me fishing,” Shaw recalled. “Through him, I developed my appreciation for agriculture and the outdoors.”

Shaw attended James Madison University in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where in 1988 he received the B.S. degree in biology with an emphasis in environmental science. There, he met his wife Dana, whom he married in 1994. After graduating, Shaw went to work for an environmental consulting firm in Manassas, Virginia. “I learned how important soils are for most natural resource, agricultural, and urban applications. This experience has helped me better formulate research questions designed to solve specific problems.”

After working for a couple of years, Shaw realized that he needed to go to graduate school to be better able to work with soils. He attended the University of Maryland, and in 1993 received the M.S. degree in pedology, or the science of soils.

“Soils are a lot more interesting than most people realize,” Shaw commented. “Everything we eat or drink or even wear for the most part, is impacted by soil. Most people don’t realize that soils are like organisms. They develop through the interaction of several factors which impart unique characteristics to each soil.”

Shaw began work on the Ph.D. degree at the University of Georgia in 1993. There, he was employed for almost four years as a technician running the pedology laboratory. This experience allowed him to more fully tie in laboratory techniques with field applications, something that is of great value now to Shaw’s research program.

After receiving the Ph.D. degree in 1998, Shaw came to Auburn in March of that year with his wife Dana and their Chesapeake Bay retriever, Nelson. “I’ve been here two years now, and I really love what I’m doing. Every day is like a new world, and there is no limit to it,” he said.

Shaw has an appointment with equal teaching and research responsibilities. He teaches two undergraduate classes (soil morphology, genesis, and classification, and soil judging) and one graduate class (soil mineralogy). He is also involved in several research projects, which include the interpretation of soil properties and the use of geospatial applications.

“We have two projects which are developing better interpretations of soil properties for certain practices critical to Alabama. One is evaluating timber harvesting effects on different Piedmont soils, with the goal of using soil survey information to guide harvesting practices. Another project will evaluate seasonal high water tables in sandy soils. What we learn will improve on-site sewage disposal system placement.”

The geospatial applications research has mainly centered around the utility of using remote sensing in precision agriculture and natural resource management. Geospatial applications include use of new technologies that let scientists pinpoint exact locations within fields and determine certain characteristics about these locations.

“We are working with NASA using remote sensing as a tool for evaluating soils. We are concentrating most of this work in the Wiregrass and Tennessee Valley regions. Right now, there are a lot of questions about the utility of using geospatial applications in precision agriculture. As of now, we don’t have a lot of answers, but we’re trying.”

Shaw is also working with Beth Guertal, associate professor in Auburn’s Department of Agronomy and Soils, on a project evaluating the use of spectral reflectance and remote sensing for assessing soil compaction effects on turfgrass. The amount of the energy from the sun that is reflected by plants, called spectral reflectance, can be affected by stresses placed on the plant, such as drought or soil compaction. Shaw’s and Guertal’s research on the use of spectral reflectance to measure stresses on turfgrass is featured in a story in this issue of Highlights, “Getting It from the Air: Remote Sensing of Stress in Turfgrass.”

Another of Shaw’s responsibilities is his role as AAES representative to the Natural Resource Conservation Service—National Cooperative Soil Survey. “Most of us are familiar with the soil survey reports published by the NRCS for each county,” he explained. “But most folks probably are not aware that the experiment stations and Auburn University play a large role in the development of the soil surveys. These soil surveys are the most detailed and most accurate inventory of a natural resource that we have, and they are a vital resource.”

So what does the future hold for this thirty-something assistant professor? “I don’t know, but I am excited about the possibilities,” he stated. “Every day we find we have a lot more questions than answers, and that is very appealing to a researcher.”