July 1998
Robert J. Reginato named UC SAREP interim director
OAKLAND – Robert J. Reginato, formerly associate administrator of the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), has been appointed interim director of the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP). The announcement was made today by Henry J. Vaux, Jr., the University’s associate vice president – programs for the University’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Reginato will begin his duties July 6 and serve until a permanent director is selected.
"I am grateful to Bob for his willingness to take on the important assignment of guiding SAREP through its upcoming transition period," Vaux said.
SAREP was established in 1987 as the first sustainable agriculture program at a U.S. land grant university. It is a systemwide program based on the UC Davis campus. William Liebhardt, the program’s director since its inception, is stepping down from the post June 30 to return to Extension work in the UC Davis Department of Agronomy and Range Science.
Reginato received his B.S. in soils from UC Davis, M.S. in soil physics from the University of Illinois and Ph.D. in soil physics from UC Riverside. He began his career as a soil scientist with the ARS Water Conservation Laboratory in Phoenix, where he served from 1959 to 1989. He was research leader of the ARS Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Systems Research Unit (1980-89) before being named associate director of the ARS Pacific West Area in Albany, California (1989-91). He was appointed director of the Pacific West Area in 1991 and in 1996 became associate administrator of ARS in Washington, D.C. He retired from federal service in 1997.
In the Pacific West Area, Reginato managed all ARS programs in the eight western states. These programs were carried out by 400 scientists at 25 sites with a budget of $80 million. He worked to initiate and maintain good working relationships with land grant institutions, commodity groups, environmental organizations, other public agencies and the media. Under his leadership, the Pacific West Area obtained new funding to construct three major research laboratories and budget increases for ongoing research programs.
As associate administrator of ARS in Washington, Reginato oversaw a program with an annual budget of $750 million and comprising 1,100 scientists and 6,900 support personnel working at more than 100 locations. He was responsible for developing long-range research strategies in new and emerging areas and interacting with national, state and local agricultural interest groups, university personnel and members of Congress.
Reginato is an accomplished researcher specializing in the loss of water from soils and plants, methods for sealing stock ponds and the use of remote-sensing techniques to assess crop stress. He served on the research team that developed the use of infrared thermometry for assessing plant stress. He has been recognized for these achievements with his election as a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America and the American Society of Agronomy.
SAREP provides support for research and educational outreach activities that encourage California farmers, farmworkers and consumers to produce, distribute, process and consume food and fiber in ways that are economically viable, sustain natural resources and biodiversity and enhance quality of life. The program funds basic- and applied-research projects, economic and public policy projects, seminars, field demonstrations and graduate student awards. For more information on the program, visit its website at http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/ or call (530) 752-7556.
Media Contacts:
Lyra Halprin, SAREP, (530) 752-8664, lhalprin@ucdavis.edu
