Sustainability Leadership Fellowship Cohort: 2014-2015

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability

Research Summary: Eleanor uses ecosystem models to simulate how soils are affected by growing crops for fuel (e.g. sugarcane for ethanol). We live in a world largely dependent on burning fossil fuel for energy. This energy source contributes to global climate change by releasing carbon into the atmosphere that otherwise would have been stored in the earth’s crust for millennia. Crop-based biofuels have the potential to be an energy source that contributes less carbon to the atmosphere. However crop-based bioenergy production can also cause the emission of other greenhouse gases, and must be balanced against demands for food and fiber from growing human populations. She uses models to evaluate how different types of bioenergy crop production methods affect soils, to help inform the development of low-carbon fuels.