John D. Aber is University Professor Emeritus
of Natural Resources & the Environment at the
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...
, and was also for many years affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at UNH. His fields of study included Ecosystem Analysis and Modeling, Global Change, Acid Rain, Nitrogen Deposition and Sustainable Agriculture.
Career
Aber received a
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in engineering and applied science (
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
) from
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1971 and Master's and
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
degrees in 1973 and 1976 in Forest Ecosystem Analysis from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (now the School of the Environment).
[ His thesis work was performed as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study, with which he maintained an affiliation for many years. He was a professor at the University of Virginia (1977–78) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1979-1987) before moving to the University of New Hampshire in 1987. Aber served in administration at UNH as provost and vice president of academic affairs (2009-2013) and Vice President for Research and Public Service (2003-2007). In 1996 he was a Charles Bullard Fellow at Harvard University
Aber was selected in 2012 as one of four recipients of the ]Wilbur Cross Medal
The Wilbur Cross Medal, or Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal for Alumni Achievement, is an award by the Yale University Graduate School Alumni Association to recognize "...distinguished achievements in scholarship, teaching, academic administration, and p ...
by the Yale Alumni Association. The medal celebrates a lifetime of academic achievement. He was also named a Distinguished Alumnus of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2003. At the University of New Hampshire, Aber received the Distinguished Professor Award in 2003 and was named one of 4 University Professors in 2009. In 2017, he received the USEPA Region 1 Lifetime Merit Award.
Research area
Most of Aber's research career focused on the carbon, nitrogen and water dynamics of forested ecosystems as impacted by major sources of pollution, including acid rain and ozone, and the impact of a changing climate. He was a principal investigator at the NSF Long-term Ecological Research sites at Hubbard Brook in New Hampshire, and at the Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts. He used a combination of field measurements, advanced remote sensing techniques and computer modeling to predict the future of forests, especially in the Eastern U.S. and Ireland. Working with many close colleagues and graduate students, Aber was engaged in 56 funded projects over a 40 year period with support provided primarily by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the USEPA.
Aber also worked with colleagues at the Harvard Forest on the Wildlands and Woodlands Project focused on maintaining 70% of the New England landscape in forest cover, and with colleagues at UNH on defining just what it means to be a sustainable university. While at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
, Aber worked with William Jordan and others at the university’s Arboretum to develop a scientific approach to restoration ecology
Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...
. He was for a short while Director of a Center for Restoration Ecology at the Arboretum.
Aber's final funded project applied concepts learned from four decades of forest research to sustainable management of an agroecosystem located at New Hampshire's Organic Dairy Research Farm. The project focused on reducing dependence on external sources of energy and materials to help close the carbon and nutrient cycles on the farm.
Aber retired from UNH in May 2021 and is pursuing a life-long interest in the writing of popular science. He is posting essays to the Substack site listed below, and working on a book. Both focus on providing accessible presentations of the science of weather, climate and climate change.
Bibliography
Aber has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications including one of the first basic texts in his field of Terrestrial Ecosystems.[ He is currently posting a series of essays on the science of weather, climate and climate change through Substack at https://lessheatmorelight.substack.com/ A book with the same title, ''Less Heat More Light,'' will be released by Yale University Press in June, 2023.
#Restoration Ecology: A Synthetic Approach to Ecological Research, William R. Jordan, III (Editor), Michael E. Gilpin (Editor), John A. Aber (editor), 1987, Cambridge University Press
#Terrestrial Ecosystems (2nd Edition), John D. Aber, Jerry M. Melillo, March 9, 2001, Academic Press] First Edition 1991, Saunders College Publishing
#Forests in Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1,000 Years of Change in New England, David R. Foster (Editor), John D. Aber (Editor), 10, March, 2004, Yale University Press
#The Sustainable Learning Community: One University's Journey to the Future, John Aber (Editor), Tom Kelly (Editor), Bruce Mallory (Editor), 2009, University Press of New England
#Wildlands and Woodlands: A Vision for the New England Landscape by David R. Foster, John D. Aber (Contributor), Elizabeth A. Colburn (Contributor), Charles T. Driscoll (Contributor), Malcolm L. Hunter Jr. (Contributor), Lloyd C. Irland (Contributor), Aaron M. Ellison (Contributor), William S. Keeton (Contributor) ... , September 1, 2010, Harvard University Forest
#The Agroecosystem Project at the Organic Dairy Research Farm, University of New Hampshire: Summary of Results and Proposals for Applications. Aber, J.D., M.M. Smith, A.M. Leach, W.H. McDowell, M.D. Shattuck, N.A. Williamson, D.M. Hoffman and J.M. Davis. 2020. University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA - Available through ResearchGate.
#Less Heat More Light: A Guided Tour of Weather, Climate and Climate Change, Aber, J.D., Yale University Press, to be published in 2023
References
External links
John D. Aber's Bio
John D. Aber's publications
*John D. Aber's Substack site - https://lessheatmorelight.substack.com/
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University of New Hampshire faculty
Living people
American ecologists
Environmental scientists
Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science alumni
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)