Bruno Basso

John A. Hannah Distinguished Professors MSU Foundation Professors College of Natural Science

• MSU Foundation Professor
• John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor

• Earth and Environmental Science

Bio

Bruno Basso, professor of earth and environmental sciences, integrates diverse disciplines such as biophysics, climatology, hydrology, genetics, agronomy and soil science to understand the spatial and temporal variabilities of crop yield and environmental outcomes in agricultural systems. With a focus on sustainable row crop production, Basso is harnessing advanced UAV technology and predictive process-based models to quantify the impact of current and future climate, soil, genetics and management on crop yield and ecosystem services. He is also a faculty member of MSU’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station.

Basso, originally from Italy, received his Laurea in agricultural sciences from the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, and his Ph.D. in crop and soil sciences from Michigan State University. After earning his doctorate, Basso spent 12 years as a professor at the University of Basilicata, Italy, before returning to MSU in 2012.

Basso’s innovative and collaborative research has earned him several awards and key appointments, including being named a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America and the American Society of Agronomy. He also received an MSU Innovation of the Year award in 2016, which lead to the commercialization of some aspects of his research and the foundation of a start-up company called CiBO Technologies which recently received the Forbes Impact Award. Basso currently leads a multimillion-dollar project funded by the USDA-NIFA on digital agriculture and implementation of climate-water-nutrient smart technologies, and is also working with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to develop a crop yield forecasting system for the country of Tanzania. He is the chair of the Climatology and Modeling Division of the American Society of Agronomy.