Rob Harrison focuses on sustaining and increasing the long-term productivity of forests and biomass production systems through nutrient management and amendments. He has studied nutrient, heavy metal and pathogen movement in soils, the impacts of compost, biosolids wastewater and fertilizer additions on soil/plant systems, the use of organic wastes as soil amendments, long-term forest productivity, the impacts of forest fertilization and management on forest soil properties and carbon sequestration. He has served as advisor to 47 graduate students, many of them currently working in industry, government and academia. He has won numerous teaching awards during his time at UW, and in recognition of his work on soils, is an elected Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America.