Umakant Mishra

Biography

Umakant Mishra is a computational soil scientist whose research lies at the intersection of soil science, global biogeochemical processes, and environmental variability. His studies integrate field observations, environmental datasets, geospatial analysis, and process-based modeling to quantify the effects of human activities and environmental variability on soil properties and processes. Umakant has conducted extensive research on permafrost, temperate, and tropical soils, publishing studies on the response of soil organic carbon to land use and environmental stressors, lifecycle analyses of bioenergy crops, spatial prediction of soil properties at regional and national scales, and the assessment of Earth system model projections. Umakant has supported various scientific societies and agencies both within the United States and internationally, serving in multiple roles. His contributions to science have been recognized and awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Soil Science Society of America, and the International Union of Soil Science.

Education

Bachelor’s Degree: Agriculture, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

Master’s Degree: Physical Land Resources, Ghent University, Belgium

Doctoral Degree: Soil Science, The Ohio State University

Postdoctoral Fellowship: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/ University of California Berkeley

Awards, Honors, & Recognitions

• 2025 Editor’s Citation of Excellence Award, Soil Science Society of America Journal
• 2025 Distinguished Lecture, Biogeosciences, Asia Oceania Geosciences Society
• 2022 IUSS Jeju Award, International Union of Soil Science
• 2020 Certificate of Excellence, Regional and Global Model Analysis program,
  Department of Energy- Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division
• 2015 Editor’s citation of Excellence Award, Agronomy Journal
• 2014 Outstanding Associate Editor Award, Agronomy Journal

Selected Publications

1. Yoon, J-H, S. S. Jung, H.S. Kim, Y. Park, H. Kim, U. Mishra, S. Gautam, C. Alewell, P. Panagos, M.B. Kirkham, P. Borrelli & J.E. Yang. 2025. Impact of soil erosion on soil organic carbon loss and its implications for carbon neutrality, Advances in Agronomy, doi:10.1016/bs.agron.2025.01.005.

2. Song, H., U. Mishra, S.Y. Park, Y.H. Seo, B. Turner, S. Galgo, P.J. Kim. 2025. Warming but not elevated CO2 depletes soil organic carbon in temperate rice paddy, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 379, 109333, doi:10.1016/j.agee.2024.109333.

3. Zhu, Y., X. Xia, J. G. Canadell, S. Piao, X. Lu, U. Mishra, X. Wang, W. Yuan, Z. Qin. 2025. China’s carbon sinks from land-use change underestimated, Nature Climate Change, 15, 428-435, doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02296-z.

4. Nyaupane, K., U. Mishra, F. Tao, K. Yeo, W.J. Riley, F. Hoffman, and S. Gautam. 2024. Observational benchmarks inform representation of soil organic carbon dynamics in land surface models, Biogeosciences, 21, 5173–5183, doi:10.5194/bg-21-5173-2024.

5. Tao, F., B.Z. Houlton, Y. Huang, Y-P Wang, S. Manzoni, B. Ahrens, U. Mishra, L. Jiang, X. Huang, and Y. Luo. 2024. Convergence in simulating global soil organic carbon by structurally different models after data assimilation, Global Change Biology, 30, e17297, doi: 10.1111/gcb.17297.

6. Qin, Z., Y. Zhu, J. G. Canadell, M. Chen, T. Li, U. Mishra, W. Yuan. 2024. Global spatially explicit carbon emissions from land-use change over the past six decades (1961-2020), One Earth, 7, 835-847, doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2024.04.002.

7. Shi, Z., F.M. Hoffman, M. Xu, U. Mishra, S.D. Allison, J. Zhou, J.T. Randerson. 2024. Global-scale convergence obscures inconsistencies in soil carbon change predicted by Earth system models, AGU Advances, 5, e2023AV001068, doi:10.1029/2023AV001068.

8. Wang, Z., J. Kumar, S.R. Weintraub-Leff, K. Todd-Brown, U. Mishra, D. Sihi. 2024. Upscaling soil organic carbon measurements at the continental scale by multivariate clustering analysis, JGR-Biogeosciences, 128, e2023JG007702, doi:10.1029/2023JG007702.

9. Wang, M., S. Zhang, L. Xiao, X. Guo, U. Mishra, Y. Luo, Z. Luo. 2024. Responses of soil organic carbon to climate extremes under warming across global biomes, Nature Climate Change, 14, 98–105, doi:10.1038/s41558-023-01874-3.

10. Gautam, S., N. Baral, U. Mishra and C.D. Scown. 2023. Impact of bioenergy feedstock carbon farming on sustainable aviation fuel viability in the United States, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 120 (51), e2312667120, doi:10.1073/pnas.2312667120.

Professional Organizations and Leadership

1. Chair, International Soil Science Award Committee, Soil Science Society of America, 2021 – 2023

2. Chair, Soil and the Critical Zone Processes Committee, American Geophysical Union, 2020 – 2021

3. Co-chair, Data & observation model link panel and Executive board member, International Soil Modeling Consortium, 2017 – present

4. Member, International Soil Science Award Committee, Soil Science Society of America, 2019 – 2020

5. Member, Fellows Committee, Soil Science Society of America, 2018 – 2019

6. Member, Soil Science Research Award Committee, Soil Science Society of America, 2015 – 2016.

7. Member Editorial Board:
– Associate Editor, Soil Science Society of America Journal (2022 – 2024, 2025 – present)
– Associate Editor, Vadose Zone Journal (2014 – 2022)
– Technical Editor, Agronomy Journal (2019 – 2021)
– Associate Editor, Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer (2014 – 2017)
– Associate Editor, Agronomy Journal (2009 – 2012, 2012 – 2015)