Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
Date
November 18, 2024
From research to real-world impact: 10 success stories of the Voss postdoc program
IBES’ Voss postdoctoral research associates tackle critical environmental challenges from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives.
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As the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) celebrates its 10th anniversary, it also marks a decade of the Peter and Pamela Voss Postdoctoral Research Fund's contributions to advancing environmental research. Since its inception in 2014, the Voss program has supported more than two dozen postdoctoral associates, empowering them to engage in meaningful research and build successful careers while addressing urgent environmental challenges.
New Findings
The research conducted by Voss postdocs spans a vast range of fields — from ancient Chinese zooarchaeology to modern day disinformation campaigns in the United States energy sector — leading to significant discoveries in policy and practice that address urgent environmental challenges.
Fossil pollen proxies 
Sarah Ivory, now an associate professor at the Pennsylvania State University, uses fossil pollen records to piece together the story of environmental change. Her innovative methods of combining models and remote sensing have shed light on tropical ecological shifts, informing future conservation strategies in biodiversity hotspots.
Faculty mentors: IBES Professor Dov Sax and IBES Fellow James Russell.
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Eric Roy, an associate professor at the University of Vermont, investigates the secrets of nutrient cycling from the Amazon Rainforest to the American Northeast.
His work integrates engineering and ecology to develop sustainable practices in water and food systems, directly contributing to sustainability goals in local communities.
Faculty mentors: IBES Professor Stephen Porder and IBES Fellow John Mustard.
Public health and the environment
Kate Weinberger, now a lead epidemiologist at global consulting company ICF, has made strides in understanding the health impacts of climate change.
Her research links extreme weather events to public health outcomes, providing essential insights for climate adaptation strategies.
Faculty mentor: Former IBES Fellow Greg Wellenius. Photo courtesy of the Banting Research Foundation.
Caves reveal ancient climates
Natasha Sekhon, assistant professor at Occidental College, splits her time between the lab and subterranean landscapes, monitoring stalagmites in cave systems as an indicator of climate change.
Her multidisciplinary research draws upon karst hydrology, speleothem sciences, climate dynamics, and statistical modeling to investigate hydroclimate variability across millennia.
Faculty mentor: IBES Assistant Professor Daniel Ibarra.
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Precipitation, past and present
Hydroclimate change research performed by Xiaojing Du, an assistant professor at George Mason University, has provided crucial data on precipitation patterns in tropical and subtropical regions.
From uncovering ancient flooding in Southern California to revealing how the El Niño–Southern Oscillation influences the Asian Monsoon, her findings are vital for developing strategies to mitigate floods and droughts in vulnerable communities.
Faculty mentor: IBES Fellow James Russell.
Solving the carbon storage puzzle
Allison Jacobel is an assistant professor of Earth and climate sciences at Middlebury College whose research uses geochemical techniques to reconstruct past climates. At Brown, she worked on a project that identified the deep Pacific as an important location for carbon storage during the last several glacial cycles.
This work helped to solve a longstanding puzzle about the location of ocean carbon storage and helps to inform our understanding of the processes that store carbon in the Earth system with implications for our collective future.
Faculty mentor: IBES Fellow Timothy Herbert.
Arctic endeavors
Chris Horvat has braved Arctic storms and treacherous terrain to study melting sea ice in the Nares Strait. His daring endeavors have been featured in documentaries like Beneath the Polar Sun.
As an assistant professor in Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, he continues to focus on polar ecological changes, highlighting the impact of climate change on vulnerable ecosystems.
Faculty mentor: IBES Fellow Baylor Fox-Kemper.
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Notable Career Achievements
The Voss postdoctoral program has not only produced groundbreaking research; it has equipped its scholars for meaningful careers that extend beyond the lab:
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On the world stage
Stacy-ann Robinson, an associate professor at Emory University, has emerged as a leader in climate adaptation and justice.
Her contributions to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (Working Group II, Chapter 15) highlight the importance of equitable responses to climate challenges, while her published work continues to shape discourse in the field.
Faculty mentor: IBES Professor J Timmons Roberts.
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The case for environmental humanities
Jayson Maurice Porter’s research paves the way for an interdisciplinary, racially informed approach to climate action. Now a presidential postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland, he investigates a variety of fields, from environmental politics to racial ecologies in Mexico and the Americas.
At Brown, he developed a climate histories learning module for local fifth graders. His co-authored essay, Cotton, Whiteness, and Other Poisons, recently won the Environmental Humanities 2023 Best Article Prize.
Faculty mentors: IBES Associate Professor Bathsheba Demuth and IBES Assistant Professor Myles Lennon.
Communicating new findings
Hayley Schiebel, an associate professor at Suffolk University, explores atmospheric and oceanic chemistry, focusing on the impacts of climate change on ocean systems and the blue carbon ecosystem.
Her workshops in conjunction with the National Science Foundation work directly with early-career professionals on developing science communication skills, facilitating their ability to present groundbreaking discoveries.
Faculty mentor: IBES Professor Meredith Hastings. Photo courtesy of Suffolk University.