The first Kirkham Conference was held Nov.2 and 3, 2000, at Iowa State University. The conference honors the late Don Kirkham, Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and professor of physics, and his wife Betty. It was sponsored by the Soil Science Society of America, the Iowa State Water Resources Research Institute and the Iowa State University Department of Agronomy.

Kirkham Conferences are intended to be small, intense conferences focused on a single critical issue in soil physics and hydrology. Attendance is by invitation only, and conferees come to ask questions and discuss approaches more than to present results. This first Kirkham Conference focused on "Scale Issues in Soil and Hydrology".