A small group of key faculty members are jointly appointed to ECI and an academic department, increasing the flow of ideas and collaboraton among related departments.

Director

Johanna Schmitt

Director, Environmental Change Initiative
Stephen T. Olney Professor of Natural History
Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies
Johanna_Schmitt(at)brown(dot)edu

Schmitt Lab web site

Dr. Schmitt studies the adaptive evolution of developmental, physiological, and life history traits in natural plant populations. Her work on genetic and ecological adaptations to climatic variation is relevant to both plant evolutionary biology and  plant adaptation to global climate change. 

She received her PhD form Stanford University and has been a Professor at Brown University for most of her career. Dr Schmitt has served as President of the Society for the Study of Evolution and the American Society of Naturalists and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Sciences. 

Meredith Hastings

Assistant Professor of Geology
401-863-3638
Meredith_Hastings(at)brown(dot)edu

Earth Science Women's Network

Professor Hastings research focuses on the reactive nitrogen cycle, with an emphasis on nitrate deposition. The isotopic composition of nitrate represents a powerful new tool for the study of the biogeochemical cycling of reactive nitrogen, its impact on atmospheric composition and its connection to the terrestrial biosphere. Her interest in NOx extends from its connection to the oxidizing efficiency of the atmosphere through its impact on ozone and hydroxyl (OH) concentrations to the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen in the Earth system via formation of nitric acid (or nitrate), a major component of acid rain and a source of biologically available nitrogen.

Using the isotopic composition of nitrate, Professor Hastings investigates variations in the sources, chemistry, and transport of NOx. On short time scales, this has implications for studying air quality and acid deposition impacts. On longer time scales, she is interested in the natural variability of NOx sources, and the connection between climate, atmospheric composition, and the biosphere. Using data collected on rain, aerosol, snow and ice core samples, as well as global models, her lab studies the impact of various sources and chemical pathways of nitrate production in remote and urban environments, on both short and long timescales.

Amanda Lynch (Starting September 2011)

Professor of Geological Sciences

amanda_lynch(at)brown(dot)edu

Professor Lynch's interests lie in the application of climate and meteorological research to concrete problems of policy relevance. Her approaches include regional and global climate models of the contemporary and past climates, weather prediction models, statistical models, and quantitative and qualitative analysis. She has a strong interest in working with under-represented minorities, particularly indigenous people. The relevance of her work to policy applications was demonstrated by her invitation to join the US Society for the Policy Sciences. In addition to her interdisciplinary research, Lynch is an acknowledged leader in regional climate modelling, having developed the first regional climate system model in 1993. Her contributions were recognized when Lynch was awarded the Priestley Medal in 2008.

Amanda Lynch has held numerous leadership positions in Australia and internationally, including Councilor of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), member of the AMS Board on Societal Impacts, Councilor of the International Study of Arctic Change, International Polar Year National Representative, and Vice President of the Federation of
Australian Scientific and Technological Societies.

Stephen Porder

Assistant Professor of Biology
(401)863-6356

sporder(at)brown(dot)edu

Professor Porder's research lies at the intersection of ecology, geology, and biogeochemistry, and focuses primarily on understanding differences in nutrient cycling across tropical landscapes. The tropics are undergoing the fastest population growth and land use change on the planet. As the human population increases by three billion people (mainly in the tropics) over the coming century, it is essential to understand how these systems will respond to anthropogenic changes. Porder's interests center on tropical rainforests, the jewels of biological diversity on land, which are currently undergoing almost unimaginably fast destruction.

Despite the importance of these systems from a whole host of perspectives, scientists know relatively little about how tropical forests work biogeochemically, how nutrients and energy flow through them, and what constraints there are on plant growth, forest regeneration, and sustainable land conversion. In this context, Professor Porder works to identify biogeochemical patterns across landscapes, to understand how these patterns may affect the function and services of ecosystems, and to consider how to incorporate this variation into models for predicting the response of ecosystems to anthropogenic changes.  To do this my lab combines field work (shooting leaves with a slingshot is a must-learn skill!), chemical and isotopic analyses, GIS and remote sensing.

Leah VanWey

Associate Professor of Sociology
401-863-3184
leah_vanwey(at)brown(dot)edu

Professor VanWey studies the dynamics of frontier settlement in the Brazilian Amazon, and the sharing of time, money and other essential support between family members who don't live together. She asks how we can simultaneously protect the Amazon's precious environmental resources while promoting equitable social and economic development. Part of the answer there and elsewhere lies in mobilizing the strong webs of support that have always helped families survive and improve their lives.