Christine Goodale
Christine Goodale is an ecosystem ecologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University. Goodale conducts research that studies the cycling of water, carbon, nitrogen and other nutrients through forest ecosystems.
Education
Christine Goodale attended Dartmouth College for her undergraduate studies, graduating in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and Biology/Geography. Following her graduation, Goodale moved to the University of New Hampshire for her masters research in Natural Resources and remained there to earn her Ph.D. in Natural Resources. Goodale was a student of John D. Aber, an ecologist and Professor of Natural Resources & the Environment at the University of New Hampshire, during her doctoral research. During her time with John D. Aber, Goodale the co-authored two papers and studied ecosystems in Ireland, including mapping of monthly precipitation, temperature and solar radiation in addition to the sensitivity of Ireland forest ecosystems.Career and research
Jobs
Following the completion of her doctoral studies at the University of New Hampshire in 1999, Christine Goodale held her first position as a postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institute of Washington in the Plant Science program located in Stanford, California. In 2001, Goodale relocated to The Woods Hole Research Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where she participated in a postdoctoral fellowship until the year 2003. Later that same year Goodale was hired at Cornell University as an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. In 2010, Goodale became an associate professor at Cornell University, where she has remained since, teaching classes such as BIOEE 4780 – Ecosystem Biology and Global Change and BIOEE 9990 – Ph.D. Dissertation Research.Fields and research
Christine Goodale's official fields of research are ecology and evolutionary biology as well as Soil and Crop Sciences. She has experience in a wide variety of scientific topics, including acid rain, carbon sequestration, climate change, forest ecosystems, nitrogen cycling and retention, and watershed processes. Goodale is an ecosystem ecologist whose research focuses mainly on forest ecosystems, including the role that forests play in important water cycle processes and regulation of atmospheric greenhouse gases, as well as the impacts that afflict forest ecosystems as a result of human activities. Goodale specifically focuses on nutrients like carbon and nitrogen, and her lab is dedicated to understanding the impact that elevated nitrogen levels have on forest ecosystem processes, and the way that these ecosystems manage the excess nitrogen. Goodale and her team examine these impacts across multiple spatial and temporal levels, from plots in a watershed to whole continents, utilizing a combination of field studies, ecosystem modeling, and acquired regional data sets to help answer their main research questions. Her past research has taken place mainly in the forests of the Northeastern United States, primarily forests in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and central New York.Awards and honors
Christine Goodale has won a variety of awards and honors during her career, including:- National Science Foundation, Early Career Award, 2009.
- Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future Faculty Fellow, Cornell.
- Alexander Hollaender Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship. U.S. Department of Energy, 1999.