Donald L. Sparks (born June 26, 1953) is an American soil scientist, currently Unidel S. Hallock duPont Chair of Soil and Environmental Chemistry,[1] Francis Alison Professor,[2] Director, Delaware Environmental Institute,[3] University of Delaware,[4] and Hagler Fellow in the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University.

in Soil Science in 1976 from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in Soil Science in 1979 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.

In 2019-2020, he served on the National Academies Committee on Catalyzing Opportunities for Research in the Earth Sciences (CORES), a study focused on developing research recommendations for the National Science Foundation for the decade 2020-2030.

[10] In 2021, the European Geosciences Union awarded Sparks the Philippe Duchaufour Medal[11] for his influential research on soil chemistry and physical chemistry that helped develop the field of soil science.

[15] He has received the Geochemistry Medal from the American Chemical Society,[16] the Liebig Medal[17] from the International Union of Soil Sciences, the McMaster Fellowship from the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the Einstein Professorship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences,[18] and the Pioneer in Clay Science Award from the Clay Minerals Society.