Geosciences graduate student wins top poster prize
Jannatul Ferdush
Mississippi State University graduate student Jannatul Ferdush received the top honor -- Best Graduate Student Poster Presentation -- at the 85th Annual Mississippi Academy of Sciences, Geography and Geology Division in Mississippi Gulf Coast and Convention Center in Biloxi in early August.
Ferdush, a doctoral student in the Department of Geosciences, received the top honor for her poster, “Digital Mapping of Soil PH in Gopalganj District of Bangladesh.”
“Soil pH is an essential indicator of soil quality, which varies with topography, geology, climate, parent material, vegetation and anthropogenic activities,” Ferdush said. “While all of these factors affect spatial distribution patterns of soil pH, knowledge of pH variability becomes an intrinsic need for improving crop productivity and land management.”
Digital Soil Mapping in soil science, also referred to as predictive soil mapping or pedometric mapping, is the computer-assisted production of digital maps of soil types and soil properties -- combining field and laboratory observation methods coupled with environmental data through quantitative relationships.
“In this study, we quantified the role of environmental variables on the spatial distribution of soil pH in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh using geostatistical methods,” said Ferdush, noting she used a variety of methods to determine the best predictive method of soil pH.
For more information about the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, visit https://msacad.org. Part of MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, more information about the Department of Geosciences is available at www.geosciences.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.
