If you鈥檝e ever wanted to unlock the secrets of the ground under your feet, Professor聽 and her team in New Hampshire can answer your questions. The Eastern Mennonite High School graduate and former Eastern Mennonite College student studies the soil and the impact of humans on this earth.
Frey will share about her research during a Suter Science Seminar Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 4 p.m. in Room 106 of the Suter Science Center. Her presentation will focus on the links between climate change and soil and how changes in the soil can slow the negative impacts of environment change.
Frey conducts research at her at the University of New Hampshire. Researchers focus on humans鈥� effect on ecosystems with special regard for nutrient circulation. Scientists are also interested in how shifts in nature like climate change and invasive species impact soil diversity and nitrogen content.
Frey聽earned a PhD in ecology from Colorado State University in 1999. Both her master鈥檚 and bachelor鈥檚 degrees from University of Virginia are in environmental science .
鈥淭he best part of my job is mentoring students and working with them to conduct research on how global change is impacting soil microorganisms and the critical ecosystem services that they provide to society,鈥� Frey said. She also loves her job because she constantly learns something new about the environment.
Though聽she has been curious about the environment since she was young, her first experiences with ecology and microbiology happened聽in classes at Eastern Mennonite College.
鈥淚nitially, I thought I would need to choose one field or the other, but subsequently learned that the field of 鈥榤icrobial ecology鈥� combines both interests,鈥� said Frey, 鈥淎nd that was it鈥擨鈥檝e been doing soil microbial ecology in some form or another ever since.鈥�
She was the chair of UNH鈥檚 natural resources and earth system science doctoral program from 2010 to 2015 and secretary of the International Soil Ecology Society from 2009 to 2013. She is currently editor-in-chief of 鈥淚ssues in Ecology鈥� and on the board of editors of 鈥淓cology鈥� and 鈥淓cological Monographs.鈥�
Career highlights include receiving a National Science Foundation Early Career Award in 2015, joining the Board of Directors of the National Ecological Observatory Network that same year, she says, and being asked to give a seminar at EMU.