Dr. Aimée T. Classen will join the University of Vermont Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources as Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences. Dr. Classen is currently an associate professor at the Natural History Museum at the University of Copenhagen. Her UVM tenure begins January 2017.
An ecosystem and global change ecologist, Dr. Classen is a former professor at the University of Tennessee and Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She uses field experiments, laboratory experiments, and modeling to explore the influence of climate change on biodiversity in ecosystems spanning wetlands to mountain tops around the world. Her lab focuses on connections among soil organisms, herbivores, plants, and ecosystem function across gradients and at multiple scales.
Dr. Classen’s highly collaborative, interdisciplinary research has been funded by grants totaling more than $7.6 million, from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) for which she participated in working groups to shape the future of climatic change research in the U.S. Her work is published in more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, and she serves as co-principal investigator to lead the NSF’s Integrated Network for Terrestrial Ecosystem Research on Feedbacks to the Atmosphere and Climate (INTERFACE). Dr. Classen currently serves as the Editor in Chief of Ecological Monographs.
As an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen for the past three years, Classen helped to build a world-leading program in climate change. As a faculty member at the University of Tennessee for seven years, Classen was distinguished by numerous awards for teaching and mentorship. She taught courses in ecology and climate change, chaired an undergraduate curriculum committee, and played a role in revamping both the biology and the ecology and evolutionary biology curricula.
Classen earned her undergraduate degree at Smith College and her doctoral degree at Northern Arizona University, both in biological sciences.
“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Classen to the University of Vermont and the Rubenstein School,” said Dean Nancy Mathews. “She is a distinguished ecosystem and global change ecologist, and her scholarship will both complement and enhance the rapidly growing team of UVM researchers who focus on aspects of climate change. As an environmental scientist, Dr. Classen will not only enhance the instructional capacity of the Environmental Sciences Program, a cross-campus major and the fastest growing in the Rubenstein School, she will also bring rich curricular experience to our graduate program.”
“I’m thrilled to be joining the faculty at the Rubenstein School,” said Classen. “Given the excellent research environment and commitment to teaching, it will be an exciting place to expand my teaching and research program. I’m looking forward to building new collaborations on campus and in the state of Vermont.”
Dr. Classen is married to Dr. Nathan Sanders, a highly regarded ecologist, and she has two children who are excited to move to Vermont to mountain bike and swim in the lake.