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My Research
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Since January 2021, I am a research scientist with USDA-ARS, studying the vulnerability of Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie to climate variability and change. Supported by an interdisciplinary team of scientists, I synthesize our existing knowledge and conduct workshops and listening sessions with farmers and ranchers in the Northern Great Plains to identify knowledge gaps and research needs, which form the basis for future USDA-ARS projects to address the challenges climate change is posing to agricultural producer in the region.
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From March 2018 to January 2021, I was co-lead and data scientist in an interdisciplinary project to understand the vulnerability of beef cattle production in the U.S. Great Plains to climate variability and change. As postdoctoral researcher, I use climate projections and land cover simulations to study how grasslands respond to increasing droughts or heat. In collaboration with economists and anthropologists we assess the economic costs of climate variability and change on ranching operations and explore barriers make adaptation more difficult for ranchers.
Website: Ranching in a Warming World |
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My dissertation, which received the 2020 Dissertation Award from the American Association of State Climatologists, combines survey and climate research to develop and test seasonal climate forecasts tailored to the needs of winter wheat producers in the U.S. Southern Great Plains. This collaborative project, which I developed independently and conducted at the South Central Climate Climate Adaptation Science Center, found new ways to use existing model data to help crop producers minimize climate-related losses due to drought, heat, or extreme rainfall.
Research Poster (September 2018) |
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My Research Interests
In order to produce practical and trusted results that serve the needs of real-world decision making, it is essential to collaborate across disciplines and engage with non-academic stakeholders. I am looking for opportunities to collaborate with managers, policy makers, businesses, non-profit organizations, and peer researchers, to produce interdisciplinary, actionable research that improves the resilience of coupled human-natural systems to climate variability and change.
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