Agricultural Education, 1961 | Plant and Soil Sciences, 1963

 

Robert Westerman of Stillwater, Oklahoma, received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural education in 1961 and a master’s degree in plant and soil sciences in 1963. He joined the United States Army, where he was a helicopter pilot, before attending and graduating from the University of Illinois in 1969 with a Ph.D. in soil fertility.

 

After seven years on the faculty at the University of Arizona, Westerman joined OSU as an associate professor of soil fertility and plant nutrition. He quickly climbed the ranks in the OSU Department of Agronomy, now known as Plant and Soil Sciences, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses related to soil-plant relationships. He was named a Regents Professor and served as department head before serving as assistant director and interim associate director of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station. His final role before retiring in 2013 was as assistant vice president for agricultural programs within DASNR administration.

 

Westerman has a lengthy list of research accomplishments, many connected to his efforts on the development of practices to improve nitrogen use efficiency in crop production. He was a major advisor to more than 40 graduate students, has written more than 50 peer reviewed journal articles, nine book chapters and a book of his own.

 

He is a Fellow in the American Society of Agronomy and a Fellow and recipient of the Agronomic Achievement Award in the Soil Science Society of America.

 

Westerman, whose career has encompassed all three aspects of the land-grant mission of teaching, research and Extension, spent 40 years as a student and faculty member with the Cowboys.