Project Grant 2226647

This $250,000 National Science Foundation Division of Polar Programs project grant will fund research to improve rice cultivation practices and reduce arsenic uptake in rice crops. The goal is to develop a mechanistic understanding of environmental factors controlling arsenic solubility and speciation in rice paddy soils. A multidisciplinary team from Columbia University, Union College, and San Diego State University will fuse frequent soil geochemistry, mineralogy, microbiology and hydrology measurements with remote sensing data. Novel machine learning and probabilistic models will scale field observations to predict spatial and temporal distributions of redox processes, aqueous arsenic, and rice-arsenic levels. The research will test hypotheses about external controls, steep near-surface gradients, and the ability of remotely sensed data to scale field observations when integrated with process-based models. Field sites in Cambodia and Texas will be extensively characterized. Findings aim to identify cultivation practices minimizing arsenic uptake in rice, benefiting farming communities and the global rice supply under the Polar Programs CFDA 47.078 program supporting basic research best conducted in polar regions or requiring such an environment.