Get to know our team at the Terrer Lab at MIT
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ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT MIT CEE
He obtained his PhD in Ecosystem Ecology and Climate Change from Imperial College London, where he started working at the interface between experiments and models to better understand the effects of elevated CO2 on vegetation. Dr. Terrer’s research has advanced our understanding on the effects of CO2 in terrestrial ecosystems, the role of soil nutrients in a climate change context, and plant-soil interactions. Synthesizing observational data from CO2 experiments and satellites through meta-analysis and machine-learning, César has found that microbial interactions between plants and soils play a major role in the carbon cycle at a global scale, affecting the speed of global warming.
Research Scientist
He addresses linkages between the biodiversity and climate crises by modeling how animal biodiversity changes affect the functioning of plant communities. His background includes a PhD from the Department of Biology at the University of Washington, a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, and a faculty fellowship at Rice University. At MIT, he is focused on feedbacks between animal biodiversity and carbon dynamics by modeling how seed dispersal by animals affects natural forest regrowth. He pairs a background in field ecology and natural history with skills in data synthesis and machine learning.
POSTDOC FELLOW
NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow. Kathryn received a B.S. in Environmental Science from University of Delaware and a PhD in Earth and Environment from Boston University. She is broadly interested in terrestrial carbon ecology and plant phenology. Previous work has included studying various aspects of plant phenology including remotely sensing, modeling, forecasting, and ecological impacts. While at MIT she will be investigating potential links between mycorrhizal associations of plants and their leaf phenology and carbon fluxes.
POSTDOC FELLOW
Leila is a multidisciplinary scientist with a foundation in theoretical physics and mathematics. She earned her Ph.D. from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Munich and has transitioned into studying global vegetation dynamics in the context of climate change. Utilizing a multi-faceted approach that includes long-term satellite images, ground observations, and advanced statistical techniques, her research aims to uncover the complex effects of environmental changes on global vegetation dynamics, focusing on aspects like growing season lengths, and plant phenology. While at MIT her research focuses on quantifying the roles that vegetation dynamics and cover changes play in biophysical and biogeochemical properties, as well as their effects on energy, water, and carbon fluxes.
Postdoc Fellow
Na Chen received a PhD in Remote Sensing from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, in November 2023. Her PhD research focused on assessing tropical forest disturbance and regrowth using earth observation sources. Her research interests encompass remote sensing, tropical forest monitoring, change detection, and time series analysis. At MIT, she is applying deep learning to fuse multi-source remote sensing data for crop water stress monitoring.
Postdoc Fellow
She obtained her PhD in earth system science from UC Berkeley, where she worked intensively with NGEE-Tropics team at LBNL. She was a postdoc fellow at Carnegie Institute for Science. Her research interests focus on the basic science of the mechanism of land-atmosphere coupling under the changing climate and on applied science in climate solutions, using a combination of multi-sensor land and atmosphere remote sensing observations, climate reanalysis data, and earth system models. Her research has advanced the understanding of how extreme storms affect the dynamics of temperate and tropical forests. Building upon her scientific foundation in climate change impacts, her interests have expanded to applied science, where she quantifies the mechanism, potential, and limits of viable climate solutions. At MIT, she is investigating the impact of increasing extreme storms on tropical carbon dynamics and evaluating the effectiveness of nature-based solutions.
Phd student
Jevan’s research focuses on remote sensing, environmental risk modeling, and carbon and water cycling in wetlands. Previously, he conducted research on methane emissions from oil & gas infrastructure and on energy-economic systems modeling. Jevan graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Mathematical & Computational Science and a B.A. in History.
PhD Student
Maria holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences from ETH Zurich. Prior to joining the Terrer lab, her work focused on the influence of minerals on soil organic carbon stocks in alpine ecosystems, which involved extensive laboratory analyses. At MIT, she applies machine-learning techniques to predict the potential for additional soil organic carbon sequestration in agricultural fields when adapting to more sustainable practices such as the use of cover crops.
PHD STUDENT
Before coming to MIT, she studied Geology and Environmental Engineering and did her research on the deforestation of the Amazon Forest using remote sensing. At MIT she is studying the global carbon cycle in the context of climate change. Her research focuses on plant-soil interactions and soil's capacity for carbon storage using data from field observations, remote sensing, and experiments.
PhD Student
His research interests are centered around forest responses to global change, and the implications on the future of the terrestrial carbon sink. He received his B.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University. His previous projects have utilized remote sensing, machine learning, and GIS techniques to research vegetation climate-mismatch, the impact of low-till agricultural practices on maize yield, and the impact of climate change on the volume of dead wood in forests.
m.eng student
Jennifer received a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Rutgers University. Before joining the Terrer Lab, Jennifer conducted research through the DAAD RISE program in Bayreuth, Germany, where she studied the impact of climate change on alpine ecosystems. She also researched urban water sustainability in Tampa, Florida through the NSF REU program. At MIT, she will be studying how nature based solutions affect soil carbon storage.
M.Eng Student
Sydney obtained her BSE in Environmental Engineering from Arizona State University. She previously studied the energy intensity of a group of wastewater treatment plants to understand the effectiveness of various energy efficiency measures. She also worked in environmental consulting to document the cleanup of former Air Force bases. At MIT she hopes to continue exploring the connections between water and carbon.
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