Profile: I'm
the oldest of two children born to Lucian and Mary Zelazny. I was reared
on a dairy farm in Florence, Vermont in a close-knit Polish community with
my
paternal grandparents on the adjacent farm and with eleven uncles, four aunts,
and many cousins nearby. I soon became familiar with rural farm life raising
cows, chickens, ducks, and rabbits; bailing hay and making corn silage; growing
a huge garden and canning many fruits and vegetables; and milking cows seven
days a week, fifty-two weeks a year.These early experiences turned me into
a night person always to enjoy sleeping late. I obtained my B.S.from
the University of Vermont in 1964 majoring in Agriculture and my M.S. Degree
in 1966 from the Plant and Soil Science Department at this same institution..I
received my Ph.D.in 1970 from the Agronomy Department at Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University. I relocated to the University
of Florida at Gainesville in 1970 as Assistant Professor of Soil Mineralogy
and obtained the rank of Associate Professor in 1974. I returned to Virginia
Tech in 1976 as Associate Professor in Physical Chemistry and Mineralogy
of Soils and was promoted to Professor in 1982. I was named to the Thomas
B. Hutcheson, Jr. Professorship in July 1992. I am a teacher and researcher
specializing in soil chemistry and mineralogy. My major research interests
are soil acidity; phosphorus, potassium, and aluminum chemistry; relationships
among chemical, physical and mineralogical properties of soils and techniques
of quantitative mineralogical analysis. I have been Principal or Co-principal
Investigator of over 20 State and Federal research projects with grant funding
totaling over 4 million dollars.I have received several awards for my research
such as: Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science
Society of America and recipient of the 1988 Virginia Tech Gamma Sigma Delta
Faculty Research Award. I have 96 refereed journal articles, 20 book chapters
and am co-editor of a book. I teach graduate courses in Clay Mineralogy,
Advanced Soil Chemistry, and Soil Physical and Colloidal Chemistry. I have
directed 14 M.S. and 19 Ph.D. students; and was an advisor to 1 Post Doc
and 2 visiting professors. I was a Visiting Scholar at the Universities of
Kentucky and Delaware, North Carolina State University, Rutgers University,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research.
I have served on several scientific review teams for the Department of Defense,
National Science Foundation, United States Department of Agriculture, Environmental
Protection Agency, National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program and the
National Council of the Paper Industry for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc.
I have held several elected and appointed offices within the Clay Minerals
Society, the Soil Science Society of America and the Virginia Tech College
of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Association. I married Layel Parker
in 1963 and have three daughters and three sons-in-law, two sons and two
daughters-in-law and 13 grandchildren. Our children Laura and Lisa were born
in Vermont. Lesley and Lucian were born in Virginia, and Lloyd was born in
Florida.
