Program subject to change and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Time Speaker

May 29, 2025

7:30 PM

Keynote Address, Cornelia Clapp Auditorium
The Global Carbon Cycle: Ecosystem science from space
David Schimel, PhD, Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA

May 30, 2025

9:00 AM

Welcome and Introduction, Cornelia Clapp Auditorium
Welcome
Nipam Patel, PhD, Director, Marine Biological Laboratory

Looking Back at 50 Years of Science at the Ecosystems Center
Anne Giblin, Ph.D. Director, Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory

9:30 AM

Session I: Ecosystem Science - Spanning Watersheds to the Deep Ocean
Moderator – Ed Rastetter, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Ecosystems Center

Watershed studies through time and space: Advancing ecosystems studies through novel methods, experiments, models, and long-term data
Wil Wollheim, PhD, University of New Hampshire

Field experiments to understand soil carbon responses to climate change
Caitlin Hicks Pries, PhD, Dartmouth College

Dams for the defense: Beavers as Nature based solutions for drought and wildlife
Jessie Moravek, PhD, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

10:45 AM

Session I continued

Carbon dynamics in Arctic Ecosystems
George Kling, PhD, University of Michigan

Scaling across fields, farms and forest: An ecosystems lens to landscape ecology
Gillian Galford, PhD, University of Vermont

The Oceanic Flux Program: Sinking particles reveal interactions between the ocean and climate
Rut Pedrosa Pamies, PhD, Marine Biological Laboratory

11:30 AM

Questions and Morning Panel discussion 

1:30 PM

Session II: Microbiomes - Organisms to Ecosystems
Moderator – Zoe Cardon, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Ecosystems Center

Microbes in the marsh: how our smallest marsh residents respond to long-term nutrient enrichment
Jennifer Bowen, PhD, Northeastern University

Is anoxia a hoax? Evidence for widespread “dark oxygen” production in apparently anoxic environments
Emil Ruff, PhD, Marine Biological Laboratory

Chemosynthetic Symbioses: From deep-sea hydrothermal vents to shallow reducing sediments
Colleen Cavanaugh, PhD, Harvard University

Global Patterns in River Microbiomes: Insights for Advancing Hydrologic and Ecological Predictions
Byron Crump, PhD, Oregon State University

Uncovering the role of fungi in nitrogen and carbon cycling in marine environment
Nick Peng, PhD, University of South Carolina

3:15 PM

Session III: Looking Forward - The next 50 years of Ecosystems Science
Moderator – Joe Vallino, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Ecosystems Center

Arctic futures
Jim McClelland, PhD, Marine Biological Laboratory

Ecosystems in the Future: How to use lessons from a rocky past?
Charles Vorosmarty, Ph.D City College of New York, Hunter College

Can ecosystem science contribute to assessing the greenhouse gas footprints of fossil fuels?
Robert Howarth, PhD, Cornell University

4:00 PM

Questions and Afternoon Panel Discussion

May 31, 2025

10:00 AM

Plankton in our Midst
Art and Science Exhibit, Open House