Ecology and Evolution Assistant Professor Seppe Kuehn has received the highly competitive CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.
The five-year grant project, whose full title is “Mechanisms of functional robustness in soil microbiomes”, seeks to provide new insights into the soil microbiome’s resilience and adaptability in the context of changing environments.
“Soils mark a new direction for our lab,” said Dr. Kuehn, who credits the work by E&E graduate student Kiseok Lee for “igniting” this new direction.
Dr. Kuehn's interest in soils is two-fold, basic and applied. “On a basic level, soils represent one of the most complex microbial ecosystems on the planet, with thousands of taxa,” he says. “How can we understand/predict the dynamics and metabolism of these very complex ecosystems? What theory do we need? Can AI help?”
On the applied side, “soils are very important for global carbon and nitrogen cycles,” he points out. “Understanding fluxes of key greenhouse gasses (CO2, methane, nitrous oxide) requires a deeper understanding of soil metabolism.”
To that end, the research will combine sophisticated experimental approaches with advanced mathematical modeling to “predict changes in soil microbiome metabolism under environmental stresses.” The final goal is to use the new insights gained to offer strategies for enhancing soil health and agricultural productivity in the face of global environmental changes.