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Dr. Scott Jones

Scott Jones

Utah State University

Research Interests

  • Development of soil thermal property sensor development
  • Development of soil permittivity sensing capability developmentl
  • Near-surface soil moisture measurement techniques
  • Remote sensing of soil moisture and vegetation
  • Soil evapotranspiration estimation
  • Thermo-TDR sensor development


Beginning with my Ph.D. research, I have been actively involved in the development and innovation of plant growth systems for reduced gravity. This included enhancement of water content monitoring in the Russian SVET plant growth root module on the MIR Space Station and novel design of the LADA plant growth unit on the International Space Station. I collaborated with Russian and US scientists in the development of the first successful experiment to measure plant growth substrate water retention and oxygen diffusion on board the International Space Station in an experiment titled ORZS.

I am a member of the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA-Fellow 2019), the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the USDA-W-3188 Multistate Research Project and actively participate with society business. I chaired the SSSA Soil Physics and Hydrology Division in 2016 and served as secretary and chair of the USDA W-3188 Research Committee


I supervised installation and management of the USU TW Daniel Experimental Forest Instrumentation (now with 10 years of data) and later incorporated it as part of the $20M NSF-EPSCoR-funded iUTAH project where I supervised and managed installation of additional aquatic and weather stations and the ensuing data output.

My BARD Postdoctoral experience was a pivotal opportunity in my professional career. Key relationships with Dani Or (USU Ph.D. advisor), Shmulik P. Friedman (BARD Postdoc mentor) and fellow ARO postdoc, David A. Robinson were built. Since then, these ‘BARD Brothers’ have been coauthors on about half of my 100+ career publications. Our 2003 time domain reflectometry review has over 800 citations and my top 10 cited articles are all a result of research efforts with these colleagues. The extended benefit of my BARD postdoctoral experience is a great example of the impact government-sponsored research programs can have on young scientists, especially in building and sustaining fundamental research programs globally. Thank you BARD for this great program and for supporting a great start to my career.