James Cassidy (musician)

James Cassidy (also known as James and Professor Cassidy) is an American Soil Physicist, currently a cutting edge leader in the field of Organic Matter/Soil Interactions. As a Professor at Oregon State University's Crop and Soil Science Division, reputably the most prestigious school of its kind, James enthusiastically shares his hard earned knowledge with the upcoming generation of scientists. His passion is fueled by an awareness of the critical reliance living creatures have on the thin saphralitic (weathered rock) material covering the Earth, commonly referred to as 'dirt'. Professor Cassidy strives to educate the population, one member at a time, towards internal and external awareness, self assurance, and community alliance reliance. He believes this type of knowledge, when widely distributed and accepted for truth, will generate the human creativity needed to find peaceful, profitable, and sustainable solutions to any modern struggle or crisis. Professor James leads by example. An unassuming, softly spoken, generous and serving man, Cassidy does not himself seek the role of leader, but by his courage to implement new ideas and his tenacious work ethic, he is most often found leading the charge of a consistently well sized group of hard working supporters. James Cassidy was born and raised in suburban Minnesota. As a youth, he and a couple school mates formed a band and played locally with much enjoyment, success, and fanfare. Cleverly, seeing opportunity in the new, wildly popular, Music Video Television(MTV), the band successfully recorded an up-beat, super funky, catchy music video. The boys and their band, Information Society, were an instant pop music sensation, as well as avant-garde dance club creators. Cassidy played bass and keyboards with the band from its beginning in the early 1980s until 1992, when the group released its final album as a trio: Peace & Love, Inc. In 2006, Information Society was featured on an entertaining episode of VH1's: "Bands Reunited". In the wake of that, Cassidy and Paul Robb, to the delight of multitudes of ecstatic, albeit aging, fans, reconvened InSoc with a new lineup and released new material in 2007. In the mean time, after the band's dissolution in the early 1990's, James, too gladly, left the music business and enrolled in Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC), outside Portland, OR. There James thrived in the supportive and mind stretching environment, involving himself in his studies as he successfully earned an associate's degree in fisheries technology. He went on to attended MHCC for two more years before transferring first to Portland State University and then finding his niche as well as his fisheries science bachelor degree, at Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvallis. He was then accepted into the Master's program at OSU's Soil Physics Lab, where he worked with Dr. Maria Ines Dragila, and earned a Master of Science degree in Soil Science. During this time, James created a compost research lab on campus, and studied the affects of Carbon Organic Matter on crop production. He also founded the Organic Grower's Club during this time, as a response to his observation that there was no appropriate hands-on training occurring in the crops or horticulture departments. [1] Currently, Cassidy is now a professor of soil science at Oregon State, and he continues to keep the harvest going with the OSU Organic Growers Club (ORGS), as the heart and soul of the program. All are welcome at the farm, work days are Sunday mornings and Thursday evenings. James, or another ORGS farmer, cooks a nice meal and all the workers are fed when the chores are thru; a sentiment that speaks volumes to the true character of James Cassidy, the Man.

External links

• James R. Cassidy faculty profile at Oregon State University