Wendy Yang
Born
Wendy Liu

1980 (age 43–44)
Alma materHarvard University (2003) University of California Berkeley (2010)
Occupation(s)Associate Professor of Plant Biology and Geology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Wendy Yang (born 1980) is an associate professor of Plant Biology and Geology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she works on soil biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology.

Early life and education

Yang is from Indialantic, Florida. She became interested in environmental science from an early age when she spent time at an environmental summer camp called Earth Corps at the Brevard Community College following 5th grade. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 2003, with a degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy. She then moved to the University of California Berkeley, where she earned her PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management in 2010. For her dissertation, she worked with Whendee Silver on developing different methods to measure nitrogen (N2) production in tropical soils, for which she received a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant.[1]

Career and research

Yang worked as a lab and field technician at the University of California Berkeley from 2003-2004. She is currently an associate professor of Plant Biology and Geology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.[2] She is known for her work in soil biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology, specifically examining the way nitrogen cycles through an ecosystem and the effects that anthropogenic use of nitrogen has on ecosystems.[3] Her current research is focused on greenhouse gas emissions and soil and the role that microorganisms in the soil, like bacteria and fungi, have in producing these gases.[4] She received a NSF grant to pursue this work in 2018,[5] as part of a larger collaboration with scientists from Georgia Tech and the University of Tennessee Knoxville to understand the role microbes have in nitrous oxide emissions from soil.[6]

Publications

Yang's most notable publications include her research on more precise methods for measuring nitrogen fluxes from terrestrial ecosystems, as it is often difficult to tell the amount of N2 gas released from soil due to the concentration of N2 gas already existing abundantly in the atmosphere.[7] Another notable publication was Yang's research on leaf litter, how climate impacts the rate of leaf decomposition and the amount of nitrogen released by decomposition.[8] Her most cited publications are as follows:[9]

  • Cusack, DF, Chou, WW, Yang, WH, Harmon, ME, Silver, WL, the LIDET Team (2009) Controls on long-term root and leaf litter decomposition in neotropical forests. Global Change Biology, 15, 1339-1355.[8]
  • Sack, L, Melcher, P, Liu, WH, Middleton, E, Pardee, T (2006) How strong is intra-canopy leaf plasticity in temperate deciduous trees? American Journal of Botany, 93, 829-839[10]
  • Yang, WH, Weber, KA, Silver, WL (2012) Nitrogen loss from soil through anaerobic ammonium oxidation coupled to iron reduction. Nature Geoscience, 5, 538-541.[11]
  • Burgin, AM, Yang, WH, Silver, WL, Hamilton, S (2011) Beyond C and N: How the microbial energy economy couples elemental cycles in diverse ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 9, 44-52.[12]
  • Liu, WH, Bryant, DM, Hutyra, LR, Saleska, SR, Hammond Pyle, E, Curran, DC, Wofsy SC (2006) Woody debris contribution to the carbon budgets of selectively-logged and maturing midlatitude forests. Oecologia, 148, 108-117.[13]

Awards and honors

References

  1. 1 2 "NSF Award Search: Award#0808383 - "Dissertation Research: "Anaerobic ammonium oxidation:a new pathway for N2 losses from humid tropical forest soils?"". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  2. 1 2 "Sustainability | Center for Advanced Bioenergy & Bioproducts Innovation". cabbi.bio. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  3. 1 2 "Ecological Society of America Announces 2018 Fellows". The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. 99 (3): 299–303. 2018-06-29. Bibcode:2018BuESA..99..299.. doi:10.1002/bes2.1404. ISSN 0012-9623.
  4. 1 2 3 "Office Hours with Aldo: Wendy Yang (w/ video)". Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  5. ↑ "NSF Award Search: Award#1656027 - Unraveling the paradox of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium in upland soils". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
  6. ↑ "NSF announces new awards for research to better understand Earth's biodiversity | NSF - National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
  7. ↑ Yang, Wendy H.; McDowell, Andrew C.; Brooks, Paul D.; Silver, Whendee L. (2014-02-01). "New high precision approach for measuring 15N–N2 gas fluxes from terrestrial ecosystems". Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 69: 234–241. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2013.11.009. ISSN 0038-0717.
  8. 1 2 CUSACK, DANIELA F.; CHOU, WENDY W.; YANG, WENDY H.; HARMON, MARK E.; SILVER, WHENDEE L. (2009-04-07). "Controls on long-term root and leaf litter decomposition in neotropical forests". Global Change Biology. 15 (5): 1339–1355. Bibcode:2009GCBio..15.1339C. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01781.x. ISSN 1354-1013. S2CID 39890498.
  9. ↑ "Wendy H. Yang - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
  10. ↑ Sack, L.; Melcher, P. J.; Liu, W. H.; Middleton, E.; Pardee, T. (2006-06-01). "How strong is intracanopy leaf plasticity in temperate deciduous trees?". American Journal of Botany. 93 (6): 829–839. doi:10.3732/ajb.93.6.829. ISSN 0002-9122. PMID 21642145.
  11. ↑ Yang, Wendy H.; Weber, Karrie A.; Silver, Whendee L. (2012-07-29). "Nitrogen loss from soil through anaerobic ammonium oxidation coupled to iron reduction". Nature Geoscience. 5 (8): 538–541. Bibcode:2012NatGe...5..538Y. doi:10.1038/ngeo1530. ISSN 1752-0894.
  12. ↑ Burgin, Amy J; Yang, Wendy H; Hamilton, Stephen K; Silver, Whendee L (2011-02-01). "Beyond carbon and nitrogen: how the microbial energy economy couples elemental cycles in diverse ecosystems" (PDF). Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 9 (1): 44–52. Bibcode:2011FrEE....9...44B. doi:10.1890/090227. hdl:1808/21008. ISSN 1540-9295.
  13. ↑ Liu, Wendy H.; Bryant, David M.; Hutyra, Lucy R.; Saleska, Scott R.; Hammond-Pyle, Elizabeth; Curran, Daniel; Wofsy, Steven C. (2006-02-04). "Woody debris contribution to the carbon budget of selectively logged and maturing mid-latitude forests". Oecologia. 148 (1): 108–117. Bibcode:2006Oecol.148..108L. doi:10.1007/s00442-006-0356-9. ISSN 0029-8549. PMID 16463056. S2CID 22153326.
  14. ↑ "NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award Recipients, 2006 - Data.gov". catalog.data.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  15. ↑ "Plant Biology News: Wendy Yang honored as LEAP Scholar | School of Integrative Biology | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign". sib.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
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