EESA has taken on 5 ambitious, but achievable, Earth and Environmental Grand Challenges. These challenges embody our most urgent research objectives for the coming decade.

EESA Scientists Investigate How Tropical Soil Microbes Might Respond to Future Droughts March 14, 2023 As the most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems on Earth, tropical rainforests are just as critical to sustaining environmental and human systems as they are beautiful.

The Second International DECOVALEX Symposium on Coupled Processes in Radioactive Waste Disposal and Subsurface Engineering Applications is taking place in Troyes, France on November 14-16, 2023.

Sep 18, 2024 · EESA scientists are studying processes below ground to understand how the delicate balance of carbon in the Critical Zone is shaped by local climate conditions.

Apr 4, 2024 · EESA research scientist Housen Chu co-authored a recent study published in JGR Biogeosciences that investigated how adding compost to a 1.54 hectare rangeland – almost the size of four football fields – affected soil carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions.

Mar 7, 2025 · To portray these complex environmental processes and functions realistically in models, EESA scientists have developed a first-of-its-kind genomes-to-ecosystem (G2E) framework that integrates microbial genetics and traits, like size or mortality rate, into models used to understand ecosystem functioning.

EESA is actively engaged in leveraging autonomous and remote-sensing technologies, harnessing high-resolution data through matching and mining techniques, developing innovative tools and modeling frameworks, and utilizing big data analytics to monitor, track, and manage water resources across scales, within built and natural environments, both ...

Jul 20, 2023 · A recent study led by EESA scientists published in ISME Communications investigated microbial colonization along different parts of the roots of young Brachypodium plants–a plant type used as a model for grasses that produce biomass, biofuel, and feed.

Oct 22, 2024 · In their recent study, Chakraborty’s team, which is based in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA), investigated growth and stress response of biofilms formed by different Rhodanobacter strains across varied nutrient, pH, nitrate, and metal conditions. As expected, increased levels of nutrients, acidity, and heavy metals enhanced ...

Christina Kosta Procopiou manages strategic communications efforts that convey EESA's complex research on climate science, energy, and water to broad audiences.