Delta Learning Community Member Receives CAREER Award to Study Global Warming
Katherine Friedrich

Creating interdisciplinary approaches to studying global warming has led to a NSF CAREER award for Teri Balser, Assistant Professor of Soil Science and Environmental Studies at the UW-Madison. She has cultivated her interest in education through participating in CIRTL's Delta Program.

"I'm interested in the factors that control soil carbon levels," Balser said. She explained that both the mineral history of soils and the microbes that live there affect the carbon content of soil. She is also interested in the ways that soil microbes respond to stress.

Rising temperatures may change the amount of carbon dioxide that these microbes release into the atmosphere, Balser said. Since carbon dioxide contributes to global warming, Balser is concerned that this effect may become a self-reinforcing cycle. "[It's] the global consequences of being stressed out," she explained wryly.

As well as working with researchers who develop global temperature models, Balser is bringing together ecosystem scientists and microbiologists to create a new discipline called "ecosystem microbiology." This new field, she said, could contribute to research on topics as diverse as disease behavior, atmospheric chemistry and weather, and changes in land cover.

Balser is currently organizing and facilitating a workshop on integrating macroscale and microscale ecology. The two fields differ in their history and their attitudes towards scientific uncertainty, she said; "It really has to do with bridging disciplines."

The relevance of Balser's work to education and society contributed to the NSF's interest in her work, Balser said. The CAREER award , a prestigious 5-year grant for new faculty, emphasizes the integration of research and education. The award opportunity led Balser to seek out the Delta Learning Community, a program of the NSF-funded Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning.

As Balser's interest in teaching and learning has grown, she has developed connections with other faculty and future faculty who are also committed to science education. Participating in the Delta CCLE Program , Roundtables and other events encouraged her to experiment with new teaching methods. She has also taken on leadership roles in other Delta Program activities, and will present her work at a Roundtable on March 7 th .

Without Delta, "my entire career track would have been very different," Balser said. Delta fostered her interest in education and provided her with a collegial community in which she could integrate research and teaching. "[Delta is] the thread that binds it all together," she observed.

February 8, 2007

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