SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A South Dakota State University professor, W. Carter Johnson, has been appointed to a National Research Council panel on Missouri River recovery and sediment management issues.

Johnson, a nationally recognized river ecologist, has served on three similar committees for the National Academy Of Sciences.

The new committee starts its 2-year study in October.

Johnson is 1 of 13 people from across the nation appointed to the committee, which will meet five times over the next two years and publish a formal report in the summer of 2010.

According to a release, the report will include recommendations to help federal agencies and others make better management decisions about sediments and the river.