Oregon State University Professor Kate Lajtha has been appointed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Board of Scientific Counselors.

Lajtha has taught and conducted research in the Department of Crop and Soil Science since 1996. Her research interests include nutrient cycling in natural and human-disturbed ecosystems, attenuation of increased nitrogen inputs to terrestrial ecosystems by soils and vegetation and detrital controls on soil organic matter formation.

The EPA Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) provides advice, information, and recommendations to EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) on technical and management issues of its research programs. Lajtha is serving on the board’s 16-member Safe and Sustainable Water Resources (SSWR) Subcommittee.

Members of the BOSC Executive Committee, subcommittees and workgroups represent a distinguished body of scientists and engineers who are recognized experts in their respective fields. These individuals are drawn from institutions such as academia, industry/business, federal, state and local governments, non-governmental and environmental organizations, research laboratories and other relevant entities.

“Serving on the Board of Counselors is a way to ensure that the research EPA funds is the best research to protect our natural resources,” Lajtha said. “Our charge is to make sure that high-quality science is being done and not suppressed.”

Lajtha serves as editor-in-chief for the journal Biogeochemistry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University and a doctorate in botany from Duke University. She was on the faculty at Boston University for eight years prior to coming to OSU.

~ Chris Branam