DURHAM, N.H. — Two long-time researchers with the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture are being recognized for their body of work and have been chosen as this year’s fellows for two internationally respected science organizations.
William McDowell, environmental science professor, has been named 2020 fellows of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Serita Frey, natural resources and environment professor, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
McDowell was selected by the AGU Union Fellows Committee because of his contribution to advancing the field of geoscience through his research that focuses on understanding the role of small streams in global carbon and nitrogen cycles. His long-term studies, which span the globe from the Lamprey River watershed in New Hampshire to the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico, describe the effects of major droughts, rainstorms, urbanization, and hurricanes on stream chemistry.
Frey has been selected as an AAAS Fellow. She is being recognized for her distinguished contributions to microbial and ecosystem ecology, particularly the effect of anthropogenic stressors, or human activities like deforestation and urbanization, on soil microbial communities and microbial-mediated carbon and nitrogen cycles. The honor of being elected a fellow of AAAS is bestowed upon members by their peers.
The AGU Fellows will be recognized during a virtual ceremony on Dec. 9, 2020 at 6 p.m. ET. The AAAS Fellows will be inducted during a virtual ceremony to be held on Feb. 13, 2021.
This research is supported by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station, through joint funding of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the state of New Hampshire.
AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of cutting-edge research through its Science family of journals. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes more than 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. The nonprofit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, public engagement, and more.
AGU is the largest single organization dedicated to the advancement of geophysics. It supports 130,000 enthusiasts to experts worldwide in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased, and respectful of communities and their values.
Founded in 1887, the NH Agricultural Experiment Station at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture is UNH’s first research center and an elemental component of New Hampshire’s land-grant university heritage and mission. We steward federal and state funding, including support from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, to provide unbiased and objective research concerning diverse aspects of sustainable agriculture and foods, aquaculture, forest management, and related wildlife, natural resources and rural community topics. We maintain the Woodman and Kingman agronomy and horticultural research farms, the Macfarlane Research Greenhouses, the Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center, and the Organic Dairy Research Farm. Additional properties also provide forage, forests and woodlands in direct support to research, teaching, and outreach.
The University of New Hampshire inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation, and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top-ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts, and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. As one of the nation’s highest-performing research universities, UNH partners with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, and receives more than $110 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space.
–NH Agricultural Experiment Station
UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture
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