Degree Requirements Financial Aid PLSC Research Programs Introduction to Soil Science Soil science addresses the needs of crop production as well as the role of soils in ecological processes. While assuring that we have adequate supplies of food, we further concentrate our attention on the quality of our environment.
Soils play a very important role in the quality of life.
Soils are an essential component in all natural cycles, including the hydrologic cycle and global cycles for carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and other essential plant nutrients. Because soils are a slowly renewable natural resource, it is important that our use of soils does not irreversibly alter their value for other purposes. An understanding of the physical, chemical,and biological processes of soils is essential to achieving this goal. Historically, the majority of soil scientists have found employment in the public sector, but employment opportunities in the private sector have grown rapidly since 1980. Most of these jobs have been in environmentally related fields, such as consulting, soil remediation, conservation, characterization and classification.