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SUNY ESF
Ecosystems: Land, Water and Air (ELWA)

All major components of our environment - land, water, and air - have been affected in pervasive and complex ways by the intensifying resource use of the growing human population. Resulting global and regional changes in climate, material flows and biogeochemical cycles, disturbance regimes, and biodiversity loss have detrimental effects on the very ecosystem services that support local communities, national economies, and overall human well-being. To help restore ecosystem functions and address the negative interactions and feedback loops between human society, environment, and ecosystems, we have assembled a large group of scientists across multiple disciplines who address these critical issues. GPES students in this Study Area integrate multidisciplinary approaches by working with faculty experts to contribute better understanding and novel solutions relevant to society-environment-ecosystem interactions.

Examples of the tools and concepts that are commonly used in Ecosystems: Land, Water and Atmosphere Study Area include:

  • Biodiversity and conservation biology
  • Environmental data science
  • Restoration science and ecosystem management
  • Environmental monitoring and modeling
  • Geospatial analyses and remote sensing
  • Global environmental change
  • Landscape management, design and planning
  • Sustainable resource management
  • Traditional ecological knowledge
  • Water and wetland resources

Participating Faculty in Ecosystems: Land, Water and Atmosphere (ELWA)

Name Email Research Keywords
Colin Beier cbeier@esf.edu long-term ecosystem monitoring, ecosystem services, watershed biogeochemistry, greenhouse gas fluxes, soil microclimate
Eddie Bevilacqua ebevilacqua@esf.edu natural resources sampling, biometrics, forest modeling, geospatial technologies, geographic information systems, spatial analysis, tree-ring analysis
Russ Briggs rdbriggs@esf.edu site productivity, soil quality, water quality
Margaret Bryant mbryant@esf.edu socio-ecological systems, spatial planning, urban ecology, climate adaptive design, interdisciplinary problem-focused research and practice
Mariela Cavo mcavo@esf.edu  Watershed management, environmental economics, forest economics, valuation of ecosystem services, payment for ecosystem services, rural development. 
Jiajue Chai jichai@esf.edu  Atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemistry, climate change, stable isotopes, reactive nitrogen cycling, urban air quality and sustainability, development of air monitoring techniques and instrumentation
Jonathan Cohen jcohen14@esf.edu wildlife habitat restoration, wildlife population dynamics, early successional forest and coastal wildlife habitat
Doug Daley djdaley@esf.edu Solid waste, stormwater, green infrastructure, compost, sustainable materials management, environmental restoration, ecological engineering
Stewart Diemont sdiemont@esf.edu agroecology, restoration ecology, traditional ecological knowledge, urban ecosystems, biocultural restoration, agroforestry
Klaus Doelle kdoelle@esf.edu municipal, industrial and urban waste water treatment, phytoremediation, bioengineering, process design and development
Martin Dovciak mdovciak@esf.edu biodiversity conservation, ecology, ecosystem management and restoration, forest ecosystems, global environmental change
John Drake jedrake@esf.edu forest ecosystem science, carbon cycling, climate extremes, tree physiology, forest climate feedbacks
Joshua Drew jadrew@esf.edu conservation biology, coastal communities, community ecology, historical ecology, ichthyology
Theodore Endreny te@esf.edu modeling watershed restoration, green infrastructure, eco-hydraulics, i-Tree Hydro software development
John Farrell jmfarrell@esf.edu aquatic ecology, fisheries science and management, aquatic habitat restoration, wetlands, invasive species
Danilo Fernando dfernando@esf.edu genomics, phylogenetics, genetic diversity, rare plant conservation, propagation, restoration, development
Christine Georgakakos cbgeorga@esf.edu water quality, sustainable agriculture, residue transport, antimicrobials 
Jennifer Goff jegoff@esf.edu  environmental microbiology; microbial ecophysiology; genomics and evolution; heavy metals; bioremediation
Cole Gross cdgross@esf.edu  Sustainable ecosystem management, soil health, soil carbon, ecosystem carbon cycling, greenhouse gas fluxes, soil-carbon-climate feedbacks, soil-root interactions, agroforestry
Chuck Kroll cnkroll@esf.edu environmental modeling, water resources planning and management, hydrology, ecosystem services, ecosystem restoration
Eun Kyung Lee eklee02@esf.edu  Air pollution; environmental health disparities; exposure assessment; air dispersion modeling; spatial analysis
Huiting Mao hmao@esf.edu atmospheric chemistry, air quality, regional to global budgets of trace gases, long range transport, continental export, climate change
Stacy McNulty smcnulty@esf.edu forest ecology, phenology, vertebrate ecology, long-term change, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem function, Northern Forest
Jaime Mirowsky jmirowsk@esf.edu environmental health, exposure assessment, air pollution, cardiopulmonary health, in vitro models, environmental noise, epidemiology, public health
Sharon Moran smoran@esf.edu human dimensions of watershed restoration, sociotechnical systems, co-production of knowledge, contaminants of emerging concern, citizen science
Tim Morin thmorin@esf.edu forests, wetlands, ecosystem carbon cycling, ecosystem modeling
Giorgos Mountrakis gmountrakis@esf.edu geospatial modeling, remote sensing, land science, land dynamics, machine learning
Lee Newman lanewman@esf.edu phytoremediation, environmental toxicology, plant microbe interactions, hyperspectral imagining
Aaron Ninokawa atninoka@esf.edu ocean acidification, chemical modification by ecosystem engineers, community metabolism, climate change ecophysiology
Madeline Nyblade mlnyblad@esf.edu  Water justice; community-based participatory research; climate and landcover change impacts and adaptation; Indigenous Nation - University collaborations; research ethics; critical history of earth science
Nicholas Pflug ncpflug@esf.edu aquatic chemistry, photochemistry, organic contaminants, chemical cues and pheromones, and fate processes.
Leanne Powers lcpowers@esf.edu aquatic photochemistry, chemical oceanography, biogeochemistry, dissolved organic matter, reactive oxygen species, and ocean optics.
Lindi Quackenbush ljquack@esf.edu remote sensing, geospatial analysis, land cover classification and characterization, riparian cover mapping
Roxanne Razavi razavi@esf.edu freshwater ecosystems, environmental toxicology, invasive species, aquatic conservation
Bahram Salehi bsalehi@esf.edu remote Sensing, machine learning and AI, Google Earth Engine, wetlands inventory and change, forest biomass, land cover land change
Kim Schulz kschulz@esf.edu freshwater ecosystems, ecological stoichiometry, invasive species, aquatic ecosystem restoration, aquatic conservation
Michael Schummer mlschumm@esf.edu wetland restoration, wetland design, wetland ecology, early successional, biodiversity, human dimensions, recreation
Theresa Selfa tselfa@esf.edu sustainable agriculture, payment for ecosystems services, cultural ecosystems services, urban gardens
Richard Ross Shaker rrshaker@esf.edu Environmental & sustainability indicators, sustainable development, landscape ecology, global change; ecological restoration, applied statistics, spatial analysis & modeling
Jamie Shinn jeshinn@esf.edu  Environmental governance and policy, climate change adaptation, water-society relationships, flooding,  political ecology, disaster response and recovery
Steve Stehman svstehma@esf.edu environmental sampling, land cover monitoring, map accuracy assessment
John Stella stella@esf.edu riparian and stream ecology, restoration, watershed management, ecological modeling, dendroecology, arid-land and Mediterranean ecosystems
Wendong Tao wtao@esf.edu ecosystem-based wastewater treatment, nutrient recovery from wastewater, anaerobic digestion, microbial ecology of waste treatment systems
Timothy Volk tavolk@esf.edu agroforestry, short rotation woody crops, phytoremediation, shrub willow, landscape design
John Wagner jewagner@esf.edu applied analytical and conceptual mathematical economic modeling, sustainable management, use of forest and natural resources
Endong Wang ewang01@esf.edu green infrastructure
Jill Weiss jiweiss@esf.edu socio-ecological systems, landscape-scale conservation initiatives, natural resources management, alpine zone
Ruth Yanai rdyanai@syr.edu Multiple-element limitation in northern hardwood ecosystems, quantifying uncertainty in ecosystem studies, and REDD+ carbon accounting for climate mitigation
Yaqi You yyou@esf.edu environmental microbiology, microbial ecology and evolution, biogeochemistry, environmental health
Nathan Young nyoung07@esf.edu Hydrology, hydrogeology, ecohydrology, soil physics 
Stephen B. Shaw sbshaw@esf.edu influence of climate change on hydrology, beaver dam analogs and stream restoration, vegetative water use and sap flux monitoring