I was a golf course superintendent in China and Japan, and I was really interested in keeping the grass as healthy as possible through precise application of the correct fertilizers. Of course, I didn’t know much about the topic then, but I was fascinated by turfgrass nutrition. I was lucky to be able to study this when I was in graduate school, and the title of my Ph.D. dissertation is “Nonacid cation bioavailability in sand rootzones.” In plain English, that’s nutrient availability to grass in sandy soils. I’ve worked with clients in many countries to apply this knowledge to fertilizer recommendations at their sites and I collaborated with Larry Stowell and Wendy Gelernter to develop the MLSN guidelines, which are now used with great success by turfgrass manager all over the world.

I live with my family in a small-town southern Thailand. Much of the land in that area is planted to rubber trees, a little bit of oil palm, some tropical fruits, and rice. It’s a lovely place and a recent travel article describes the food culture: “There aren’t many places in the world where people are willing to accommodate the logistics required to roast entire full-grown pigs every day, but there also aren’t many places in the world that are as serious about breakfast as Trang. Even in an utterly food-obsessed country like Thailand, the city’s enthusiasm for the first meal of the day can seem almost pathological.” I write about some of my activities, exciting developments in the snack food aisle, and progress with my golf game at, www.micahwoods.com