PeopleFacultyHowie Epstein

Howie Epstein
Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences

Regions of Interest:
Arctic tundra of Alaska and Canada; Great Plains grasslands and shrublands; southern Africa, South America, U.S Mid-Atlantic

Research:
Howard Epstein is an ecosystem and plant community ecologist whose main research interests include 1) regional analyses of the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems along climate/soil gradients, 2) interactions between plant community structure and biogeochemical cycles, such as carbon, nitrogen and water. His main ecosystems of interested are those that are limited in some way from becoming forests, either the temperature-limited arctic tundra or the moisture-limited grasslands, shrublands and savannas, or even the disturbance-limited old-fields (successional ecosystems) of the Virginia Piedmont, and Ridge and Valley regions. Epstein uses a variety of different tools and techniques in his research in including field observations and experiments, satellite remote sensing and simulation modeling. Since 1996, Epstein has worked continuously on interdisciplinary research projects in the Arctic of Alaska and Canada that have integrated ecology with the physical and social sciences.

Howard E. Epstein is an Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences and the Director of the Program for Environmental and Biological Conservation at the University of Virginia. He received his B.A. degree in Computer Science from Cornell University in 1986, his M.S. degree in Rangeland Ecosystem Science from Colorado State University in 1995 and his Ph.D. in Ecology also from Colorado State University in 1997. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado until 1998, when he took his current position at the University of Virginia. He is the author of 31 publications in peer-reviewed journals and 3 book chapters