Bayer Environmental Science, a division of Bayer CropScience, endowed $1 million to North Carolina State University to establish a Professor of Sustainable Development. In 2009, Dr. Thomas Rufty, Professor of Crop Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NC State University, was chosen for this chair.
Dr. Rufty leads an aggressive research and outreach program addressing a wide range of distinct but interwoven sustainability-related initiatives. His work spans basic research, applied field studies, and industry outreach and advocacy. He is highly sought as a speaker on the benefits of managed landscapes. He serves as a volunteer leader at the college, university, and community levels to advance sustainability initiatives.
In every aspect of his research, he advances the shared mission of Bayer and the College to ensure the development and management of landscapes in socially and environmentally responsible and economically viable ways.
As the Bayer Environmental Science Professor, Rufty has provided leadership through:
• Plant health research in collaboration with BES including examinations of plant health mechanisms
that can lead to development of new chemical formulations.
• A multiphase project in collaboration with BES to increase the drought and heat tolerance of
perennial ryegrass through genetic engineering.
• Research, teaching, direction and oversight at NC State’s golf course, a sustainable golf course
ecosystem that serves as a model for the students, the green industry, and the general public.
• Carbon sequestration research, development of a carbon calculator now used in K-12 environmental
education programs, and work with Bayer staff to assess the carbon footprint of Bayer’s Clayton
Field Laboratory.
• Prolific publications and presentations on research findings and collaborative work with BES.
Turfgrasses now comprise the fourth most acreage of all plant systems in the United States. They also have the potential for storing large amounts of carbon below-ground and thus providing value in the carbon offset markets.
In this groundbreaking project, Dr. Rufty’s research group is gathering soil samples from golf courses, athletic fields, and home lawns throughout the Carolinas to determine the carbon being stored in the root zone. The study will provide the first data on carbon sequestration by turfgrasses in the southeastern United States.
In parallel to the C sequestration research program, the research group has produced a ‘carbon calculator’ that is being introduced into the K-12 educational program through the Friday Institute on the NCSU campus. The intention of the carbon calculator is to raise awareness in public school children about the environment and climate change.
The Lonnie Poole Golf Course was conceived as a platform for research, teaching, and industry outreach in state-of-the-art techniques of golf course design, construction, and maintenance. This Audubon certified facility is at the forefront of the movement of managed ecosystems towards sustainability.
A product of the Arnold Palmer Design Company, this golf course blends with the natural landscape and elevation changes, protects surface waters, and uses adapted vegetation to lower resource requirements and blend with the surrounding environment. As a lead donor and founding partner, Bayer has been an integral collaborator since the inception of the course.
Dr. Rufty and staff are establishing educational programs that will teach the appropriate methods for integrating managed and natural ecosystems, while having minimal impacts on the environment. They are designing and building nature trails and assembling a series of study guides that will educate middle school and university students, as well as the public, through the intricacies of the ecosystem. This educational program, funded by and developed in collaboration with Bayer, is at the forefront of education with managed ecosystems in the United States.
