Dr. Cynthia Cambardella is a Soil Scientist with the USDA-ARS at the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, IA, and Associate Professor of Soil Science in the Department of Agronomy at Iowa State University. She earned a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Maryland and Ph.D in Soil Science and Ecology from Colorado State University. Since joining the USDA-ARS in 1991, Dr. Cambardella has explored how changes in agricultural management, land-use, and climate impact soil and water quality by improving our understanding of the interrelationships among plant roots, soil organic matter, soil structure and the cycling of C and N in natural and managed ecosystems.