University of Arkansas Alumnus Now Director of Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute
Dr. Jason Krutz is an Arkansas native and graduated from the University of Arkansas with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agronomy in the Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences. He then received his Ph.D. in agronomy from Texas A&M University. After spending some time with various agencies, he recently became the director of the Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute, a sister institute to the Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC).
As a graduate student at the University of Arkansas, Krutz’s research focused on phytoremediation of agrochemicals. Krutz and his major advisor Dr. Craig A. Beyrouty, tested the ability for Bermudagrass and accompanying microorganisms near the root system to clean up and degrade pyrene contaminated soils. Pyrene is a type of hydrocarbon that comes from byproducts of fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes, and can be toxic to humans.
After his Ph.D. work in Texas, Krutz worked for the US Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service. There, he continued his work on the environmental fate of agrochemicals in crop production and the use of best management practices (BMPs) to mitigate transport of these potentially harmful chemicals.
More recently, Krutz was with the Delta Research and Extension Center with the University of Mississippi, where he focused on irrigation efficiency and on educating and encouraging producers to adopt certain BMPs. He developed and directed the Row-crop Irrigation Science Extension and Research Program (RISER). Through RISER, more producers have adopted profitable BMPs for irrigating rice, cotton, corn, soybeans, and peanuts in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Tennessee.
In his new role as director of the water institute, Krutz will help Mississippi continue to improve the management of water resources that can provide valuable economic and environmental benefits to Mississippi and even surrounding states. Krutz and Dr. Brian Haggard, AWRC director, are life-long friends and colleagues and they both look forward to expanding how water centers work together across state lines in the Delta region.
Photo courtesy of Mississippi State University.
