About Signals in the Soil

MSU's Signals in the Soil (SitS) teamhas their eye on understanding nutrient cycling and water movement in agricultural soils. The SitS team will design, produce, and implement novel nitrate sensors to observe real-time soil processes. These buried sensors will transmit data electronically, and the team will develop a computer model to interpret the resulting signals.

The product of this work will inform farm management to optimize fertilizer applications and crop rotations, protect water quality, and support sustainable cereal production in rain-fed systems of the Northern Great Plains.

Learn more about our project:

The team

Principal investigator: Stephanie Ewing
Co-principal investigators: Robert Payn, Ann Marie Reinhold, Stephan Warnat
Outreach professionals: Jayme Dyer, Suzi Taylor
Students: Daniel Collins, Sale Rhodes

Funding

Funding for the project is provided by The National Science Foundation in partnership with USDA-NIFA. Their Signals in the Soil program fosters collaboration among the two partner agencies and the researchers they support. The agencies combine resources and funding for the most innovative and high-impact projects that advance sensor systems and modeling to understand dynamic soil processes. Learn more about Signals in the Soil on the NSF website. NSF Award number 2034430.

Outreach

The SitS team is implementing activities that support STEM education and participation in rural Montana, including working directly with teachers in and near the Judith River Watershed, as well as educators around the state and region. Outreach partners are the MSU Science Math Resource Center and Jayme Dyer, PhD.