W. L. Daniels
Education
Ph.D., Agronomy – Soil Mineralogy & Geomorphology, Virginia Tech, 1985
M.S., Agronomy – Soil Genesis, Virginia Tech, 1980
B.S., Forestry, Virginia Tech, 1978
Experience
1998 – Present – Professor, Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech
1989 – 1998 – Associate Professor, Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech
1987 – 1989 – Assistant Professor, Department of Agronomy, Virginia Tech
1982 – 1987 – Instructor, Department of Agronomy, Virginia Tech
1981 – 1982 – Research Associate, Department of Agronomy, Virginia Tech
Program Focus
Integrated interdisciplinary research program focused on mined land reclamation, highway and construction site stabilization, wetland restoration, and evaluation of residuals as soils amendment. Primary responsibility is the development of cost-effective and reliable reclamation/revegetation/remediation strategies for the full range of disturbed lands in the mid-Atlantic Region. Secondary responsibilities include providing expertise to state and federal agencies on land application of wastes and appropriate lab, greenhouse and field screening criteria.
Role of Graduate Students
Our research program supports three post-docs, three graduate students, a laboratory specialist, and a research and outreach coordinator on sponsored funds. Graduate students work at the M.S. and Ph.D. level on a wide range of mined land reclamation, wetland studies and soil genesis programs.
Future Research
Ongoing and future research will be concentrated in several areas. First we will continue our intensive dredge spoil characterization and upland utilization program with a particular focus on finding the most effective ways to convert these high volume “waste sediments” to productive agricultural uses. We will also continue to devote significant research effort on developing more accurate procedures for modeling the water budgets and associated wetness regime of constructed wetlands along with effective strategies for reconstructing root limiting soil profiles in those systems. Finally, we have recently initiated a major new program focused on the prediction of weathering reactions in Appalachian coal mine spoils and refuse that will allow us to predict their release of total dissolved solids and constituents of concern like Se over both the short- and the long-term.