2019 Research Excellence Award Winner: Zach Easton, for Applied Research

Zachary Easton, Associate professor and Extension specialist, Department of Biological Systems Engineering

Dr. Easton’s scholarly achievements since joining Virginia Tech in 2011 are outstanding. His research program is outstanding, It is well-integrated with his extension program, further enhancing the impact of his research. Since 2011, Dr. Easton has published 57 refereed journal articles (7 manuscripts are in review), 7 book chapters, 14 refereed extension publications, 9 conference proceedings, and 5 other technical reports. Dr. Easton also develops and supports numerous software packages that are widely used, including one software package that has been used over 68,000 times and several that are integrated into modeling courses at Virginia Tech and other universities. His work is highly cited with an ISI Web of Science H-Index of 23, Google scholar H-Index of 28, and i10-Index of 60.

Since 2011, Dr. Easton has secured funding as PI of $1.95M (his portion $1.34M) and as Co-PI of nearly $12M ($1.5M his portion). Research sponsors include National Science Foundation, US Environmental Protection Agency, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, as well as regional and university sources. His outstanding funding record is a strong indication of the high quality of his scholarly work.