2011 Lecturer | Dr. Sally Brown

About the Lecturer

She was a Post Doctoral Associate in the environmental chemistry USDA-ARS Beltsville lab and later in the Ecosystem Science Division, College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington where she is currently a research associate professor.

She is Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America and serves on the U.S. National Committee for Soil Science within the National Academy of Science. She also serves on the Climate Action Reserve protocol development committee for methane avoidance of landfill diversion of organics to compost facilities.

Research

Dr. Brown’s research focused initially on risks associated with use of different residuals. Lately it has switched to an emphasis on benefits associated with use of residuals. She wants to show how food waste, biosolids and reclaimed water can all be beneficial soil amendments. Earlier work was with metal availability in soil and in situ restoration. Lately she has added an emphasis on how greenhouse gases impact management practices for different residuals.

She has received the US Compost Council 2009 Rufus Chaney Research Award for work in the area of greenhouse gas implications of different organics management and the US EPA 2007 National first place Clean Water Act recognition award for exemplary research in the area of biosolids management. Her research efforts won her the Washington Organics Recycling Council 2008 Outstanding achievement award in organics recycling and the King County Green Globe Award in 2005 for outstanding achievement in environmental stewardship by using biosolids to grow canola for biodiesel production.

Dr. Brown‘s research expertise in greenhouse gas impact has led to her involvement with numerous city (Chicago), state (Washington and California), and national organizations. Her work evens extends into Canada where she was a team member with the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment charged with development of a tool to calculate GHG impact of different biosolids treatment and end use practices.

Education

Dr. Sally Brown earned a B.A. in Political Science from Williams College, Williamstown, MA, an M.S. and Ph.D. in Agronomy (soil science) from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD.