Faculty Spotlight: Jaclyn Hatala Matthes

Jaclyn Hatala Matthes is a new assistant professor in the Department of Geography and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Biology.

Professor Matthes works at the intersection of ecosystem ecology and atmospheric science to investigate physical and biological feedbacks between global climate change, land-use change, and ecosystem processes. She is particularly interested in understanding how ecosystems control greenhouse gas fluxes between the biosphere and atmosphere, and the role that ecosystem management plays in the global carbon cycle. Her research also explores the impacts of disturbance processes, such as insect and pathogen outbreaks, floods, land-use changes, and fires, on the carbon cycle of ecosystems.

In Winter 2015, Professor Matthes will teach a new course, GEOG 8: Life in the Anthropocene, which will investigate the physical and ecological consequences of our current era of unprecedented human impacts on the Earth and its ecosystems. Because her research is interdisciplinary, Professor Matthes looks forward to collaborating with a broad range of students with diverse interests.