Armand Van Wambeke
Professor Emeritus of Soils of the Tropics

711 Bradfield Hall (607)255-1738; Fax (607)255-8615 E-mail:arv1@cornell.edu Ingenieur degree, University of Ghent (Belgium) Doctor in Agricultural Sciences, University of Ghent (Belgium) Armand Van Wambeke joined the Cornell faculty in 1976. He had worked previously for about ten years with the Agricultural Research Institute of the Belgian Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. His activities there dealt with soil survey investigations. After his African experience he moved to South America to map the soil resources of the Eastern Llanos of Colombia, and later was appointed Soil Resource Officer for Latin America with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. During his years on the South American continent he was interacting with the International Training Center for Post Graduate Soil Scientists at the University of Ghent where he guided graduate students in soil genesis.

Research/Extension Program Research interests are focused on the development of methodologies that make soil resource inventories more accessible to land use planners. Two approaches are used: computer programs that allow soil scientists to build their own expert systems that translate soil data into economic values, and interfaces that link soil characterization data to geographical information systems.

Selected Publications Rossiter, D. and A. Van Wambeke. 1994. ALES, Automated Land Evaluation System. Version 4.5 User's Manual. SCAS Teaching Series Tg3-2. 265 pp. Department of Soil, Crops and Atmospheric Sciences. Cornell University. Ithaca, NY. Van Wambeke, A. 1992. Soils of the Tropics. Their Properties and Appraisal. McGraw-Hill. New York. Van Wambeke, A. 1989. Tropical Soils and Soil Classification Updates. Advances in Soil Science 10:171-193. Springer Verlag, New York Inc. Van Wambeke, A. 1987. Soil Moisture and Temperature Regimes of Central America, Caribbean and Mexico. SMSS Technical Monograph #16. 225 pp. 16 maps. Department of Agronomy. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Van Wambeke, A. 1987. Thinking Small in Land Evaluation is Beautiful. In Quantified Land Evaluation Procedures, ed. K. J. Beek, et al., ITC Publication #6. Wageningen, The Netherlands.