Josh Heitman

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.

Extension Publications

Publications

• Adjusting seeding rate across soybean planting date and maturity in the Southeast United States , CROP SCIENCE (2025)
• Enriched stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in biocrusts unveil their critical roles in mediating ecohydrological processes of drylands , PLANT AND SOIL (2025)
• 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)
• Neural network estimation of thermal conductivity across full saturation for various soil types , COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE (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)