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Personnel

Ben Abbott

Ben is an ecosystem ecologist at Brigham Young University who studies how natural and human disturbances affect carbon, nutrient, and water cycles. Specifically, he works on the permafrost climate feedback, eutrophication, wildfire, river biogeochemistry, and air quality. He is particularly interested in social and environmental sustainability, science communication, and exploring the religious and cultural basis for ecological stewardship. He and his wife have four children who take after them in their love of animals, TV, and biking.
Email: benabbott@byu.edu
Twitter

Jay Zarnetske

Jay is an ecohydrologist and Associate Professor at Michigan State University who studies how the movement of water connects and controls terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. His background is primarily in physical hydrology, biogeochemistry, and aquatic ecology. He is particularly interested in water resources education and outreach efforts that help promote a more informed citizenry. His service is focused in cross-institutional community building and creating more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just Geoscience educational environments. Beyond research, teaching, and service, he fills his time with family and outdoor activities, plus mediocre gardening efforts and daring cooking adventures.
Email: jpz@msu.edu
Twitter

Jon O’Donnell

Jon is an ecosystem ecologist with the National Park Service’s Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Program in Anchorage, Alaska. He is interested in how climate and disturbance are changing terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the Arctic and Boreal region. He enjoys working collaboratively with researchers across disciplines to advance science, to guide management decisions, and to build outreach and educational opportunities for the public. In his spare time, he likes to camp, hike, fish, ski, read, and play music with his family and friends.
Email: jaodonnell@nps.gov
Twitter

Qiwen Zhang

Qiwen Zhang is a Ph.D. student working on using Arctic river networks as multi-scale sensors to reveal terrestrial and aquatic signals of ecosystem change. She earned a B.S. in the field of agriculture from China Agricultural University, and an M.S. in the field of ecology from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, where she worked for nearly three years on permafrost ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau. Her research interests focus on ecosystem ecology, carbon cycle, nutrient cycle, greenhouse gases, and ecosystem feedbacks to climate change. She enjoys gardening, street photography, visiting museums and galleries, and spending time with nature and children. Maybe one day she will be able to sing while playing guitar.

Tanner Williamson

Tanner is a postdoc in the Zarnetske lab at Michigan State University. He received his MS from Montana State University (2014) and his PhD from Miami University of Ohio (2020). He is largely interested in how land use and climate change influence biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem metabolism. He has explored these issues across a range of aquatic ecosystems and spatial scales, from eutrophic reservoirs to sub-arctic headwater streams.