Josh Heitman
William Neal Reynolds Professor & Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor
Soil Physics & Hydrology
Williams Hall 3410
Bio
https://heitman.wordpress.ncsu.edu/
https://casm.cals.ncsu.edu
Soil is the interface between biological, atmospheric, and geologic systems. Movement of heat, water, and chemical in soil impacts the terrestrial environment at nearly every scale. Research efforts focus on understanding principles of this movement through laboratory and field experiments, development of new measurement techniques, and numerical modeling.
Major research goals are to detail soil water and energy budgets for evaporation and evapotranspiration, improve efficiency and services of agricultural, urban, and marginal soils, and develop theoretical frameworks and measurement systems to quantify soil processes.
Publications
- Fraise mowing and hollow-tine aerification impact bermudagrass surfaces , CROP FORAGE & TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT (2025)
- Fraise mowing impacts soil physical properties of bermudagrass surfaces , AGRONOMY JOURNAL (2025)
- Modeling compaction effects on soil water retention across the full moisture range: Calibration and validation , VADOSE ZONE JOURNAL (2025)
- Vadose Zone Journal Special Section: Soil physics in agricultural production, water resources, and waste management , VADOSE ZONE JOURNAL (2024)
- Biocrusts Critical Regulation of Soil Water Vapor Transport (Diffusion, Sorption, and Late-Stage Evaporation) in Drylands , WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH (2024)
- Compost incorporation and wildflowers introduction for stormwater infiltration and erosion-control vegetation cover establishment in post-construction landscapes , JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (2024)
- Estimating soil water retention curves over the entire saturation range: A thermal conductivity-based approach , JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY (2024)
- Laboratory observations for examining estimates of soil dry surface layer thickness with parsimonious models , HYDROLOGICAL SCIENCES JOURNAL (2024)
- Modeling the Nonlinear-To-Linear Relationship Between Bulk and Pore Water Electrical Conductivity in Saturated Porous Media Using a Padé Approximant , WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH (2024)
- Overlooked biocrust impacts on surface soil thermal properties: Evidence from heat-pulse sensing on large volume samples , EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE (2024)