Interim Dean Buhler Biography
As the Interim Dean for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Doug Buhler leads the agriculture and natural resources research, teaching and outreach programs for Michigan State University. Working collaboratively with MSU AgBioResearch and MSU Extension, Dean Buhler works to advance Michigan’s rich agriculture and natural resources sector, educate future leaders and lead faculty annd staff in solving some of Michigan’s and the world’s greatest challenges.
Prior to his appointment as interim Dean in January 2011, Buhler served as the associate director of AgBioResearch. In that role he acted as liaison with Michigan commodity groups and provided leadership for Project GREEEN (Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs). Project GREEEN is a cooperative effort between plant-based commodities and businesses together with AgBioResearch, MSU Extension and the Michigan Department of Agriculture to advance Michigan’s economy through its plant-based agriculture. As CANR acting associate dean for research, Buhler provided oversight for and coordination of the CANR’s research program.
Before being named associate director in 2005, Buhler served as acting associate director and CANR acting associate dean for research from March to December 2005. He was chairperson of the MSU Department of Crop and Soil Sciences from 2000 to 2005.
Buhler was born and raised on a dairy farm in southern Wisconsin. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and his master’s and doctoral degrees (both in agronomy) from the University of Nebraska.
After receiving his doctorate, Buhler returned to the University of Wisconsin, where he taught and advised undergraduates and conducted research on weed biology, management and conservation. He joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) in St. Paul, Minn., in 1989 with research responsibilities in weed management and water quality. In 1993, Buhler was transferred to the USDA-ARS National Soil Tilth Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, where his research responsibilities included weed biology, ecology and management in corn and soybean production systems.
Buhler’s research and outreach activities focus on the responses of weed populations to various crop and soil management systems. His research results are being used to develop and implement improved weed management systems and have resulted in more than 330 publications, including 125 refereed journal and review articles.
Buhler has been the author or editor of three books and an invited presenter at numerous seminars, symposia and workshops. He served as an associate editor for Weed Science and Weed Technology and is a consulting editor for the Journal of Crop Production. Buhler is a fellow of the North Central Weed Science Society, the Weed Science Society of America, the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America.
