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Paul Bloom can pinpoint three influences that helped guide him toward a career in soil chemistry. First was visiting his grandparent's
farm in Cambridge, Minnesota as a child, which peaked his interest in agriculture. Second, during high school he found that he was a
natural in chemistry. The final influence was exposure to environmental seminars and political activism as a grad student at Missoula,
Montana during the 1970s. So a convergence of soil and environmental chemistry was a natural fit for him.
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Today, Paul enjoys the challenge of solving problems as a professor in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate. He studies an
assortment of subjects ranging from simple, low-cost composting methods for degrading pesticides to the fertility and productivity of
cultivated wild rice stands. Paul is considered the state's leading expert in wild rice fertility, which he has studied for nearly 25
years. "I'm the best because I'm the only one who conducts research on it," he jokes.
Sometimes Bloom works at the cutting edge of science. For example, Paul says he and other researchers "are working to redefine the
understanding of soil mercury." Mercury poses a danger to humans and wildlife (largely due to neural tissue development). Paul and
other scientists studied how mercury is retained by organic matter in soil. Their efforts revealed that the sulfur-containing groups
found in organic matter create strong bonds between mercury and organic matter.
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Other research projects have included examining the effects of acid rain on forest soils, and studying iron deficiency chlorosis, a
condition that hurts soybean yields in Minnesota and across the Midwest. "We're excited about possible breakthroughs. We have some new
ideas about the factors that are causing the variability of soybean chlorosis within fields and from year to year," Paul said of the
latter project.
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Bloom has been recognized with several awards for his research. In 1991 he was peer-elected a fellow of the Soil Science
Society of America. In 2004 he received a distinguished service award from the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council for his 25 years
of research with wild rice growers. And in 2005 Paul and a team of researchers won a partnership award from the university's Center for
Transportation Studies. Their study aimed to define human health risks from the use of fly ash in the stabilization of soils under
roadways.
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In addition to his teaching and research, Paul finds time to make other contributions. He is incoming President of the International
Humic Substances Society (IHSS). He will be installed for a two-year term during the 2006 meetings in Karlsruhe, Germany. He has also
served as IHSS Vice President and on the society's board of directors since 1999.
Bloom serves as an advisor to undergraduate students in the department's environmental science program. He is proud to be involved in a
program that is doing a good job of training undergrads. "Environmental science is a great program," he asserts. "It's based in soil
and water, but it has a broad perspective." He advises prospective students that they should have a core interest in science and math,
not just in the environment.
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Paul stays just as active at home as he does on the job. He volunteers with several organizations, including St. Anthony Neighbors for
Peace, a group of individuals who work for peace and freedom (www.parkpeace.org). He also works with the Filipino/American Coalition
for Environmental Solutions (www.facessolutions.net), a charity that is trying to develop an intergenerational model for partnering with
environmental groups in Filipino communities and to help Filipino American students with issues of cultural identity.
Paul and his wife Meg have been married for 30 years. They met in grad school at Cornell while studying soil science (Meg is ABD in
soil science). They have two sons, both of whom have ventured far from Minnesota. The youngest, Francisco, attends the University of
California-Santa Barbara where he is working toward a Ph.D. in materials science, while the oldest, Ben, earned a B.A in history from
UW-Madison and now lives in Washington, D.C., where he works for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
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