STANLEY W. BUOL is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Soil Science at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, where he held William Neal Reynolds Distinguished and Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professorships before retirement. He earned B.S., M.S., and PhD. Degrees from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Prior to moving to North Carolina State University, he was a faculty member of the Agricultural Chemistry and Soils Department at the University of Arizona. He is a Fellow in both the Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy. He has received the International Soil Science Award and Distinguished Service Award from the Soil Society of America and the Achievement Award from the North Carolina Soil Science Society. In addition to several papers in scientific journals and book chapters, he has authored the book Soils, Land, and Life.

RANDAL J. SOUTHARD is Professor of Soil Genesis and Morphology and Soil Scientist in the California Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of California, Davis. He holds a B.S. degree in biology and a M.S. degree in soil science from Utah State University and a Ph.D. in soil science from North Carolina State University. He is a member of the Soil Science Society of America, Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, and the International Union of Soil Sciences and is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America. He served as Associate Dean of Environmental Sciences in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis from 1999 to 2009. He teaches courses in introductory soil, pedology, and environmental sciences. He served as president of the Western Society of Soil Science from 1995 to 1996 and was an associate editor for the Soil Science Society of America Journal from 1999 to 2002. He has published articles in various journals including Soil Science Society of America Journal, Geoderma, Soil Science, Clays and Clay Minerals, Soil Survey Horizons, California Agriculture, Journal of Environmental Quality, Global Change, Biology, and Atmospheric Environment.

ROBERT C. GRAHAM is professor of Soil Mineralogy and Pedology at the University of California, riverside. He has degrees in soil science from the University of California at Davis, Utah State University, and North Carolina State University, He is a member of the Soil Science Society of America, International Union of Soil Sciences, Professional Soil Scientists Association of California, California Forest Soils Council, and the Geological Society of America. He has served as Associate Editor for the Soil Science Society of America Journal and is a Fellow in the Soil Science Society of America. At UC Riverside he advises graduate students and conducts research and teaches courses in soil mineralogy, soil geomorphology, and soils of natural ecosystems and landforms. He has published articles on these topics in a variety of journals including Soil Science Society of America Journal, Geoderma, Soil Science, Biogeochemistry, Clays and Clay Minerals Forest Ecology and Management, Canadian Journal of Forestry, Oecologia, Geology, Vadose Zone Journal, Catena, International Journal of Wildland Fire, and Journal of Arid Environment.

PAUL A. McDANIEL is Professor of Pedology at the University of Idaho in Moscow. He is also an Affiliate Faculty member at the Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza (CATIE) in Turrialba, Costa Rica, and the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station representative to the National Cooperative Soil Survey program. He holds a B.S. degree in Biology from University of Kentucky, an M.S. in Soil Science from Montana State University, and a Ph.D. in Soil Science from North Carolina State University. He served as Associate Editor for the Soil Science of America Journal from 2000-2006 and as Technical Editor for the Pedology, Soil Mineralogy, and Wetland Soils sections form 2007 to present. He is a member of Soil Services, and is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America. He teaches courses in introductory soil science, pedology, and soil mineralogy, and has published research articles in various journals, including Soul Science Society of America Journal, Geoderma, Soil Science, Clays and Clay Mineral, Catena, Journal of Environmental Quality, Forest Science, Water Resources Research, Hydrological Processes, and Vandose Zone Journal.