What kind of work do critical zone scientists do? Who are some of the scientists working at Critical Zone Observatories across the country? How does their work inform our understanding and management of critical zone resources, such as water, soil, and food?

These brief profiles feature just a few of the 250+ senior scientists, university faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students who work at the nine CZO sites currently funded by the National Science Foundation. CZO people are cross-disciplinary scientists who have expertise in fields including hydrology, geochemistry, geomorphology, ecology, biology, and climatology. More profiles will be added over time, as new scientists join the CZO teams.

The profiles provide a non-technical introduction to the work CZO people do. Each scientist was asked to respond to the following questions:

1. What is the goal of your work?
2. How is your work relevant to the science community and to the larger human communities in which we live?
3. Why is studying the critical zone important?
4. How has the CZO network been valuable to you in your work?
5. How can the CZOs help improve our understanding and management of natural resources?

Profiles:  Grad Students | Early Career |  Boulder | Calhoun | Catalina-Jemez | Eel | IML | Luquillo | Reynolds | Shale Hills | Southern Sierra | and more profiles coming

Early-Career Scientists

JAIVIME EVARISTO (ecohydrologist, PhD student)

Jaivime Evaristo is an ecohydrologist who seeks to understand how vegetation dynamics in general, and root-water uptake in particular, affect stores of water and nutrients from hillslope to ecosystem and continental scales. He uses geochemical tracers (mostly stable isotopes) to improve our model representations of local to regional and global water fluxes.  Visit Jaivime's profile > 

JORDEN HAYES (geophysicist, Assistant Professor)

Jorden looks at near-surface processes, including chemical and physical weathering and landscape evolution. The goal of her work is to characterize the structure of the deep critical zone at the landscape scale to better understand the processes that drive variations in that structure. Visit Jorden's profile >

JUSTIN RICHARDSON (soil biogeochemist, post-doctoral researcher)

As a soil biogeochemist, Justin focuses on how elements move between the non-living and living components of soil. This ranges from the uptake of nutrients by vegetation, toxic metals by organisms, and accumulation during soil formation. His current research at the Critical Zone Observatory National Office will focus on the fate and transport of Aluminum in soil. Visit Justin's profile >

PAM SULLIVAN (hydrogeochemist, Assistant Professor)

Pam focuses on how interactions between climate, vegetation, and geology impact the security of our freshwater resources and the development of soil. In my lab, we quantify rates of plant-soil-water interactions and their controls on solute fluxes. These fluxes are what govern the availability and quality of our water resources and the abundance of arable land. Visit Pam's profile >

Previously profiled early-career scientists

ADAM WYMORE (freshwater ecologist, post-doctoral researcher) 
DAVE BARNARD (tree eco-physiologist, postdoctoral fellow) 
EVE-LYN HINCKLEY (biogeochemist, assistant professor) 
HYOJIN KIM (geochemist, postdoctoral fellow)
JANE WILLENBRING (geomorphologist, Assistant Professor) 
KYLE TROSTLE (geochemist, postdoctoral researcher) 
RACHEL GALLERY (microbial biologist, assistant professor) 
TESS RUSSO (hydrologist, assistant professor)