Dr. Jeffrey G. Skousen
Dr. Skousen is Extension Reclamation Specialist and Professor of Soil Science in the Division of Plant and Soil Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Forestry. His responsibilities are split among 65% Extension, 20% Teaching, and 15% Research.
Dr. Skousen's main responsibility in extension is to develop an educational program for the state in the area of reclamation of disturbed soils. He accomplishes this through consultations, seminars, and workshops with research faculty, state regulator agencies, industry personnel, and employees within the Cooperative Extension Service. Specific duties in extension involve providing information on acid mine drainage, coal overburdens, acid soils, and revegetation to coal mine operators and regulatory agencies. He also provides expertise in soil conservation and water quality activities in the State. He coordinates the Land Judging Program in West Virginia. He organizes the expertise of faculty at WVU in various colleges to address mining and reclamation problems, secures funding through external sources, and prepares educational programs (through workshops and written materials) for coal industry personnel, researchers, and students.
His service to the State is mostly an extension of his position as Land Reclamation Specialist and his work with state water quality agencies.
Dr. Skousen has assumed the responsibility for teaching two classes per year. One is an introductory course in environmental protection, ENVP 55, and the other is a course in reclamation, AGRN 255, designed for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students.
The research program of Dr. Skousen is directed toward reclamation of disturbed lands and improvement of water quality. He has been the principal investigator on externally-funded grants totaling over $1 million. He works with other faculty, directs graduate student research, publishes results in journals, and presents findings at professional meetings. He serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Environmental Quality.