Carrie Andrew

Biography

Fungi are fascinating and complex organisms! They conduct fundamental processes in carbon and nutrient cycling, related to decomposition, and nearly all plants are in a form of symbiosis with them, not to mention the many interactions with humans, whether pathogens, sources of nutrition, or in managed systems such as the agricultural and forestry services. Fungi can be challenging to understand, but are crucial for the health and functioning of natural and urban systems. For reasons such as these, they are the organismal group that I have primarily focused on.

I am a terrestrial ecologist, therefore interested in all components of biology, environmental science and natural history, with degrees in Forestry Science (PhD; Michigan Technological University, 2005 - 2009) and Botany (BS; University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1999 - 2004). I apply quantitative ecology, i.e., data and analytics, in the context of global change (atmospheric chemistry, climate change, land-use change and pollution) in order to understand where organisms are, and what they do in terms of ecological and evolutionary principles. Ideally this inquiry will help us to conserve and sustain their futures, alongside other organisms, in the natural environment.

I started immediately and primarily with university teaching for four years after my PhD (University of Wisconsin, Northeastern Illinois University, School of the Art Institute Chicago; 2009 - 2013), and followed that with the more standard post-doctoral research path that, especially in Europe, continues as a fixed-term researcher during career development  (University of Oslo, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, University of Cambridge, the Swedish Species Information Centre at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; 2013 - 2021). I returned to the States early in 2021, and am delighted to be a Visiting Assistant Professor here at Oberlin, teaching a mycology course and general biology lectures &/or labs!