Paul DeLaune, Ph.D., has been named interim center director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at San Angelo, effective immediately.
DeLaune is a Texas A&M AgriLife Research environmental soil scientist, Regents Professor and Faculty Fellow in the Texas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. He is based at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon.
In San Angelo, he replaces Reid Redden, Ph.D., who advanced many impactful initiatives since becoming the center’s director in 2021.
“My main goal is to continue to build upon the impactful initiatives secured by Dr. Redden,” DeLaune said. “I want to continue the efforts to strengthen relationships with stakeholders and potentially build new ones. I also look forward to working with the faculty to improve research capacity and provide needed research to positively impact producers regionally and beyond.”
DeLaune brings wide-ranging expertise to the interim center director position, said G. Cliff Lamb, Ph.D., AgriLife Research director, Bryan-College Station.
“I am confident that Dr. DeLaune’s keen academic and administrative expertise will advance the pioneering research at San Angelo, helping growers overcome challenges and improve profitability,” Lamb said.
DeLaune’s internationally recognized research career
DeLaune joined AgriLife Research in 2007 and has developed a nationally and internationally recognized research program emphasizing sustainable crop production in semiarid environments. He is recognized for his expertise in soil health and soil carbon in row crop production systems and wheat/stocker cattle systems.
Through his applied research program, he works closely on environmental and agricultural challenges facing growers in the Texas Rolling Plains and High Plains.
He has become a leading expert in cover-crop management. DeLaune’s research focuses on protecting water resources while maintaining agricultural production goals in semiarid cropping systems.
He will continue his research evaluating tillage and water management strategies and crop rotation options in various cropping systems to improve nutrient and water-use efficiencies, carbon and nutrient cycling, crop yields and subsequent soil water storage.
Working directly with producers and private and government entities is crucial to identifying applied research goals and transferring results to engaged stakeholders, he said.
DeLaune earned his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Oklahoma State University and his master’s degree in agronomy and doctorate in soil science from the University of Arkansas.
Future leadership for the Texas A&M AgriLife center at San Angelo
In the coming weeks, Lamb said the AgriLife Research leadership will begin its search for a permanent director for the Texas A&M AgriLife center at San Angelo.
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