Rate My Professor María Luisa Tejedor

María Luisa Tejedor Salguero, born in Burgos on August 21, 1949, is Catedrática de Edafología y Química Agrícola and Profesora Emérita since 2020 at the Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), within the Faculty of Sciences. She obtained her Licenciatura en Ciencias Biológicas in 1971 and Doctorado in 1974 from ULL, and expanded her studies at higher centers in France. Early in her career, she worked at the CSIC on soil and water resources, soil degradation and rehabilitation, desertification, and traditional agricultural systems. At ULL, she held positions as Profesora Ayudante, Profesora Adjunta Interina, and became Catedrática in 1983. She served as Vicerrectora de Investigación from 1986 to 1990 and as Rectora Magnífica from 1990 to 1995, marking her as the first woman rector at ULL and the third in Spanish universities. She also acted as Consejera de Industria, Comercio y Nuevas Tecnologías for the Government of the Canary Islands.

Her research interests center on the management of soil and water resources in arid and semi-arid regions, particularly volcanic soils characteristic of the Canary Islands, desertification control, biosaline agriculture for forage and energy crops like alfalfa and Jatropha, and the effects of irrigation with non-conventional waters (desalinated and regenerated) on soil properties. She has authored five books, such as "Andosoles de las Islas Canarias" (1975), "The soil as a strategic resource: degradation processes and conservation measures" (1998), and "Estudio de la temperatura de los suelos de la Isla de Tenerife" (2010); fifteen book chapters; and hundreds of peer-reviewed articles, including "Influence of the thickness and grain size of tephra mulch on soil water evaporation" (2005) and "Dealing with desertification in the Canary Islands" (2015). She translated a French book in her specialty and has directed numerous regional, national, and European research projects. Notable honors include Académica de Honor of the Real Academia de Medicina de Canarias (2023), first female member of the Academia Canaria de Ciencias (2010), and her ingreso lecture "El suelo, ese gran desconocido" (2009). Her contributions have advanced sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation in insular ecosystems.