Rate My Professor Doug Soldat

Doug J. Soldat is Professor, Extension Specialist, and Chair of the Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his BS in Soil Science in 2001 and MS in Soil Science in 2003 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed by a PhD in Horticulture from Cornell University in 2006. Soldat joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty in 2006 as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2012, and to full professor in 2017. He assumed the role of department chair in the Soil and Environmental Sciences department. His teaching includes Soil Science/Horticulture 332: Turfgrass Nutrient and Water Management, which covers nutrient and water management for professionally managed turfgrass areas such as golf courses, athletic fields, and sod farms, along with environmental considerations like nutrient fate and irrigation to limit losses.

Soldat's research and Extension programs center on optimizing resource use efficiency in turfgrass systems and improving urban soils. His work examines water and nutrient management strategies to promote turfgrass health while minimizing environmental losses, given the extensive pervious surfaces covered by turfgrass in urban and suburban areas. Current projects include evaluating biosolids for sod production in terms of economics and sustainability, assessing fall-applied nitrogen uptake under cool temperatures, investigating water harvesting and drip irrigation for turfgrass, using 18O-labeled phosphate as a tracer for soil microbial activity rates, and applying plant growth regulators to reduce fertilizer needs on golf course putting greens. Key publications include 'Dollar Spot Suppression on Creeping Bentgrass in Response to Nitrogen Fertility and Fungicide Programs' (2021, Plant Disease), 'New Approaches to an Old Problem: Dollar Spot of Turfgrass' (2022, Phytopathology), and 'The Economic Cost of Winter Injuries on Golf Courses in Minnesota' (2025, HortScience). His Extension efforts deliver research-based information on sustainable turfgrass management to homeowners, professionals, sod growers, lawn care providers, and county agents through summer field days at the O.J. Noer Turfgrass Research and Education Facility, the annual winter Turfgrass and Greenscape Exposition, and training programs for nutrient management plans. Soldat received the 2012 Lawns of Wisconsin Network's Person of the Year award and was appointed to a CALS faculty professorship/chairship in 2025. He is a member of the Crop Science Society of America.