Faculty Profile

David J. Parrish, Ph.D.

My Picture

Dr. Parrish

Professor

Appointment

Teaching : 85%

Research : 15%

Extension : 0%

Web

Education

  • B.S. East Tennessee State 1967
  • M.S. Wake Forest, 1970
  • Ph.D. Cornell, 1976
 

Link to recent CV

Professional Activities and Interests

  • Heavily involved with instruction and advising in undergraduate programs. Serve as co-coordinating counselor for Environmental Science majors.
  • Specialty interests include crop physiology and ecology.
  • Major research focus since 1979 has been energy cropping and biofuels. Was principle investigator on the proposal that first directed DOE's attention to switchgrass, which has become the model species for herbaceous energy crops. Currently involved in authoring or co-authoring multiple reviews and speaking to various audiences on switchgrass and energy cropping.

Courses

Course Number Course Name
CSES 1004 Intro to Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences
CSES/ENSC 4004 Senior Seminar
CSES 4344 Crop Physiology and Ecology
CSES 5344 Advanced Crop Physiology

Current Projects

  1. Herbaceous crops for a Virginia biofuels/bioproducts industry -- Virginia Agricultural Council
  2. DOE/Sungrant switch feedstock research, U.S. Department of Energy

Recent Publications

  1. Parrish, D.J., J.H. Fike, D.I. Bransby, and R. Samson.  2008.  Establishing and managing switchgrass as an energy crop.  Forage & Grazinglands doi:10.1094/FG-2008-0220-01-RV

  2. Nabati, D.A., E.R. Schmidt, E.S. Khaleghi, and D.J. Parrish.  2008.  The growth of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis cv. Plush) as affected by plant growth regulators and iron (Fe), grown under limited soil moisture regimes.  Asian Journal of Plant Sciences (in press)

  3. Parrish, D.J., J.H. Fike, D.I. Bransby, and R. Samson. 2007. Establishing and managing switchgrass as an energy crop. Forages & Grazinglands (in press)
  4. Fike, J.H., D.J. Parrish, D.D. Wolf, J.A. Balasko, J.T. Green Jr., M. Rasnake, and J.H. Reynolds. 2006. Switchgrass production for the upper southeastern USA: Influence of cultivar and cutting frequency on biomass yield. Biomass & Bioenergy 30: 207-213.
  5. Fike, J.H., D.J. Parrish, D.D. Wolf, J.A. Balasko, J.T. Green Jr., M. Rasnake, and J.H. Reynolds. 2006. Long-term yield potential of switchgrass-for-biofuel systems. Biomass & Bioenergy 30: 198-206.
  6. Sartori, F., R. Lal, M.H. Ebinger, and D.J. Parrish. 2006. Potential soil carbon sequestration and CO2 offset by dedicated energy crops in the USA. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 25: 441-472.
  7. Parrish, D.J. and J.H. Fike. 2005. The biology and agronomy of switchgrass for biofuels. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 24: 423-459.

Personal Activities and Interests

Inveterate (if not compulsive) smallmouth bass catch-and-release fisherman and pretty good racquetball player. Also often found digging in Ms. Parrish's flower beds.

My Work Groups

Keywords

  • switchgrass
  • Panicum virgatum
  • energy crops
  • biofuels
  • bioenergy
  • seed physiology
  • environmental science
  • pedagogy