Dr. Renée F. Brown, Biology

Name:

Dr. Renée F. Brown

Title:

Research Assistant Professor

Department:

Biology

Describe your research in about 200 words.

I am an ecosystem ecologist and ecoinformatician with a passion for blending technology with field-based research to explore how dryland ecosystems respond to environmental change. Specifically, I make use of environmental sensor networks and long-term datasets to unravel how changes in climate, along with other disturbances, such as atmospheric deposition and fire, affect ecological and biogeochemical processes across temporal and spatial scales. My work is focused primarily in the southwestern United States, a known climate change hotspot, as well as in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, an extreme polar desert region of Antarctica. In studying these distinctly different, albeit severely water-limited landscapes, my research aims to contribute a broader understanding of dryland ecological dynamics in the face of global change.

What’s the most interesting thing you have learned from a student?

Although I have learned many interesting things over the years, I particularly enjoy working with students who bring new and diverse perspectives to learning and research.