 Nearly 28 years ago, professor Jay Bell was inspired to study soil science by a professor named Wybe Kroontje, meaning "little crown" in Dutch. Now, Bell has continued this tradition by inspiring many of his own students, which his two Distinguished Teaching Awards attest to. It is clear that teaching students is Bell's passion.
Bell started off as an engineering major at Virginia Tech but soon found an interest in soils. He realized that studying soils did not only pertain to agriculture, but also to a wealth of related environmental issues - something Professor Kroontje taught Bell in an environmental science class. Bell took more soils classes, going on to earn his Master's in Agronomy in 1982 at Virginia Tech. He worked as researcher in surface mine reclamation in Southwestern Virginia for 4 years before moving to Penn State and earning a Ph.D. in Agronomy in 1990.
In 1991, Bell became an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate (SWAC). It didn't take long for College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences (COAFES) to recognize his teaching efforts. The college awarded Bell the untenured Distinguished Teaching Award in 1995. He went on to become an associate professor in SWAC in 1997, where he received the tenured Distinguished Teaching Award.
So what makes Professor Bell such an outstanding teacher? In large part, it's Bell's philosophy that learning does not have to be separated from having fun. He believes that students have to enjoy what they are studying or else the information fails to stick with them. Bell has put his theory into practice as the Coordinator of the Environmental Sciences major.
Bell developed Wetland Soils (Soil 5555) - one of only three or four courses in the country like it. At the end of the course, students get to apply what they learned in class by mapping wetlands on a site in the north metro. Both the students and professor Bell have a lot of fun with this aspect of the class. In Soil Genesis and Landscape Relations (Soil 5515), Bell infuses his world knowledge of soils by using examples from Australia, Morocco, and China. Again, this variety and hands-on experience for the students creates interest in soil theory by seeing the applications first hand.
Another effective learning idea that Bell believes in is building student-learning communities. This is exactly what happens with the Soil Genesis Field Trip (Soil 8110 Colloquia) and the weekend camping retreat in Orientation to Environmental Science (Environmental Science 1128). In the Soil Genesis Field Trip, students travel to Duluth, the Red River Valley area near North Dakota, and then make their way back to the Twin Cities. During this field trip, students learn about glacial geology and many different soil types, such as peatlands, forest and prairie soils, old beach ridges, and soils formed in lake sediments. The students also get to know each other through the social aspect of camping out together. Bell says this fosters a positive learning environment for their future studies.
Professor Bell's belief and trust in his students doesn't stop there. In 2003/2004 he is having three environmental science seniors and one freshman help design a freshman seminar: Human Impact on the Environment: Then and Now (ES 1905). He has been amazed with the great ideas they have come up with, admitting that many had never crossed his mind. Bell says he is excited about the freshman seminar and thinks it should prove to be a very interesting class as well as an educational experiment.
When Bell isn't teaching, he is working as a research pedologist-someone who scientifically studies soils, including their origins, characteristics, and uses. As a pedologist, he has studied everything from mine reclamation to wetlands to remote sensing. His most recent work, however, has been with an innovative approach to soil mapping. Soil mapping has many important uses including determining property values, agriculture, forestry, and distinguishing wetland boundaries. Precision agriculture techniques also depend on that information. By using geographic information systems (GIS) and digital terrain analysis - both techniques that allow for digital representation of landscapes - Bell has developed efficient and cost-effective soil mapping techniques.
By studying soils in a particular area and discovering relationships between soil types and the land topography, Bell has used models to predict where and what types of soils will be found in the land. While new soil mapping techniques developed by Bell and other show great promise, old methods die hard and much of his research has been in other countries such as Australia where there are fewer obstacles to adopting new soil mapping techniques
In addition to contributing to soil science research, Bell gives back to the field by acting as an editor-in-chief of Geoderma, an international soil science journal published out of Holland. Bell reviews between 50 - 75 manuscripts a year. Before his Geoderma position, he served on the editorial board for the Soil Science of America Journal for five years.
When Bell isn't absorbed in soil science, he can be found biking and backpacking. He also plays guitar, a love that stems back to his days in Virginia as a band member in the Lonesome Cove String Band. The band played what Bell calls "old-time music," a precursor to Bluegrass. He says he also did some amateur acting, where he was hanged four days a week in the longest running outdoor drama in Virginia called "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine." These days, Bell and his wife of 23 years are busy following their two sons' activities.
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