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Robert B. Jackson, Nicholas Professor of Global Environmental Change, Associate Dean for Research and Energy Initiative

Robert B. Jackson

Rob Jackson is the Nicholas Chair of Global Environmental Change and a professor in the Biology Department and Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. His research examines feedbacks between people and the biosphere, including studies of the global carbon and water cycles,biosphere/atmosphere interactions, and global change. He is currently Director of Duke's Center on Global Change and Duke's Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. In his quest for solutions to global warming, he also directs the new Department of Energy-funded National Institute for Climatic Change Research for the southeastern U.S. and co-directs the Climate Change Policy Partnership, working with energy and utility corporations to find practical strategies to combat climate change.

Jackson has received numerous awards, including the Murray F. Buell Award from the Ecological Society of America, a 1999 Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering from the National Science Foundation (one of 19 scientists honored at the White House by President Clinton), and inclusion in the top 0.5% of most cited scientific researchers. He has more than 125 peer-reviewed scientific publications and is co-editor of the book "Methods in Ecosystem Science" (Springer, 2000). His trade book on global change, The Earth Remains Forever, was published in October of 2002. His first children's book, "Animal Mischief", was published in March of 2006 by Boyds Mills Press, the trade arm of Highlights Magazine for children. The sequel, "Not Again", is due out next year.

Contact Info:
Office Location:  3311 French Building
Office Phone:  (919) 660-7408
Email Address: send me a message

Education:

PhDUtah State University1992
M.S. StatisticsUtah State University1992
M.S. EcologyUtah State University1990
B.S. Chemical EngineeringRice University1983
Specialties:

terrestrial ecosystems
energy
biodiversity
biogeochemistry
water quality
global climate change
land use and sprawl
soil science
air quality
hydrofracking
Research Interests: Ecology and biogeochemistry, global change, energy and environment, water resources

Robert B. Jackson is the Nicholas Chair of Global Environmental Change at the Nicholas School of the Environment and a professor in the Biology Department. His research examines how people affect the earth, including studies of the global carbon and water cycles, biosphere/atmosphere interactions, energy use, and global change.

Rob Jackson received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Rice University (1983). He worked four years for the Dow Chemical Company before obtaining M.S. degrees in Ecology (1990) and Statistics (1992) and a Ph.D. in Ecology (1992) at Utah State University. He was a Department of Energy Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow for Global Change at Stanford University and an assistant professor at the University of Texas before joining the Duke faculty in 1999. He is currently Director of Duke's Center on Global Change and Duke's Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. In his quest for solutions to global warming, he also directs the Department of Energy-funded National Institute for Climate Change Research for the southeastern U.S. and co-directed the Climate Change Policy Partnership, working with energy and utility corporations to find practical strategies to combat climate change.

Jackson has received numerous awards, including the Murray F. Buell Award from the Ecological Society of America, a 1999 Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering from the National Science Foundation (one of 19 scientists honored at the White House by President Clinton), a Fellow in the American Geophysical Union, and inclusion in the top 0.5% of most cited scientific researchers (http://www.isihighlycited.com/). His 150+ peer-reviewed scientific publications have been cited more than 10,000 and 14,000 times in Web of Science and Google Scholar, respectively. His trade book on global change, The Earth Remains Forever, was published in October of 2002. His first children's book, "Animal Mischief", was published in March of 2006 by Boyds Mills Press, the trade arm of Highlights Magazine for children. Its sequel, "Weekend Mischief", appeared in 2010.

Jackson's research has been covered in various newspapers and magazines, such as the Boston Globe, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Scientific American, and BusinessWeek, and on national public radio, including the syndicated programs "Morning Edition", "All Things Considered", "Marketplace", "The Tavis Smiley Show", "The Next 200 Years", and "Earth and Sky" (for which he is a science advisor and scriptwriter). He conceived and organized the Janus Fellowship, an annual undergraduate award to encourage the study of an environmental problem from diverse perspectives; 1999's first recipient traveled down the Nile River to examine water use and water policy in Egypt.

Keywords:

Biogeochemistry • Energy and Environment • Global Change • Physiological and Ecosystem Ecology • Water Resources

Current Ph.D. Students   (Former Students)

  • Alison Appling  
  • Andrew Procter  
  • John Kim  
  • Sean Berthrong  
  • Kirsten Hofmockel  
  • Catarina Moura  
  • Cynthia Willson  
Postdocs Mentored

  • Morgan Gallagher (2013/06-present)  
  • Tom Darrah (2012 - present)  
  • Josiah Strauss (2012 - present)  
  • Dan Johnson (2011 - present)  
  • Stephen Osborn (2010-present)  
  • Kaiguang Zhao (2010-present)  
  • Chris Ellis (2009-present)  
  • Munish Chandel (2008-present)  
  • Marcelo Nosetto (2008-present)  
  • Danielle Way (2008 to present)  
  • Dush Jayawickreme (2008-present)  
  • Alexia Kelley (2007-present)  
  • Amy Zanne (2006-2008)  
  • Gervasio Pineiro (2006-present)  
  • Tim Bleby (2005-2007)  
  • Cristina Armas (2005-2007)  
  • Sheila Palmer (2004-2005)  
  • Dafeng Hui (2004-2006)  
  • Miguel N. Bugalho (2003/01-2003/12)  
  • Maria B. Caldeira (2003/01-2003/12)  
  • Kathleen Farley (2003-2005)  
  • Noah Fierer (2003-2005)  
  • Matt Henn (2003-2005)  
  • Esteban Jobbagy (2003-2008)  
  • Rebecca McCulley (2003-2006)  
  • Andrew McElrone (2003-2004)  
  • Vic Engel (2002-2003)  
  • Rick Gill (2001-2003)  
  • Hafiz Maherali (2000-2002)  
Representative Publications   (More Publications)

  1. Phillips NG, R Ackley, ER Crosson, A Down, LR Hutyra, M Brondfield, JD Karr, K Zhao, RB Jackson, Mapping urban pipeline leaks: methane leaks across Boston. Environmental Pollution, Environmental Pollution, vol. 173 (2013), pp. 1-4 [003]
  2. Osborn, SG, A Vengosh, NR Warner, RB Jackson, Methane contamination of drinking water accompanying gas-well drilling and hydraulic fracturing, PNAS, vol. 108 (2011), pp. 8172-8176 [pnas.1100682108]
  3. Reece, JB, LA Urry, ML Cain, SA Wasserman, PV Minorsky, RB Jackson, Campbell Biology, 9th edition (2010), Pearson/Benjamin Cummings
  4. New directions in microbial ecology, edited by Jackson, RB, N Fierer, JP Schimel, Ecology, vol. 88 (2007), pp. 1343-1394
  5. Warner NR, RB Jackson, TH Darrah, SG Osborn, A Down, K Zhao, A White, A Vengosh, Geochemical evidence for possible natural migration of Marcellus formation brine to shallow aquifers in Pennsylvania, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A, vol. 109 (2012), pp. 11961-11966 [pnas.1121181109]
  6. Pan Y, RA Birdsey, J Fang, R Houghton, PE Kauppi, WA Kurz, OL Phillips, A Shvidenko, SL Lewis, JG Canadell, P Ciais, RB Jackson, S Pacala, AD McGuire, S Piao, A Rautiainen, S Sitch, D Hayes, A large and persistent carbon sink in the world's forests, Science, vol. 333 (2011), pp. 988-993 [science.1201609]
  7. RB Jackson, Weekend Mischief (2010), Boyds Mills Press
  8. Does nitrogen constrain carbon cycling, or does carbon input stimulate nitrogen cycling?, edited by Y. Luo, CB Field, RB Jackson, Ecology, vol. 87 (2006), pp. 3-75
  9. Kim, JH, RB Jackson, A global analysis of groundwater recharge for vegetation, climate, and soils, Vadose Zone Journal (2012) [doi]
  10. Michalak AM, RB Jackson, G Marland, CL Sabine, and the Carbon Cycle Science Working Group, A U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan (2011) (U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program, Washington, DC.) [html]
  11. Sala, OE, RB Jackson, Determinants of biodiversity change, edited by OE Sala, RB Jackson, Ecology, vol. 87 (2006), pp. 1875-1924
  12. RB Jackson, Animal Mischief (2006), Boyds Mills Press, "Highlights for Children" Corporation
  13. Eccles, JK, L Pratson, RG Newell, RB Jackson, The impact of geologic variability on capacity and cost estimates for storing CO2 in deep-saline aquifers, Energy Economics, vol. 34 (2012), pp. 1569-1579 [015]
  14. RB Jackson, The Earth Remains Forever (2002), University of Texas Press, Austin [html]
  15. Vergutz L, S Manzoni, A Porporato, RF Novais, RB Jackson, Global resorption efficiencies and concentrations of carbon and nutrients in leaves of terrestrial plants, vol. 82 (2012), pp. 205-220 (Ecological Monographs 82:205-220.)
  16. Jayawickreme DH, CS Santoni, JH Kim, EG Jobbágy, RB Jackson, Changes in hydrology and salinity accompanying a century of agricultural conversion in Argentina, Ecological Applications, vol. 21 (2011), pp. 2367-2379 [doi]
  17. Chandel MK, LF Pratson, RB Jackson, The potential impacts of climate-change policy on freshwater use in thermoelectric power generation, Energy Policy, vol. 39 (2011), pp. 6234-6242 [doi]
  18. Jackson RB, JS Baker, Opportunities and constraints for forest climate mitigation, BioScience, vol. 60 (2010), pp. 698-707
  19. Little MG, RB Jackson, Potential impacts of leakage from deep CO2 geosequestration on overlying freshwater aquifers, Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 44 (2010), pp. 9225–9232 [doi]
  20. Jackson RB, EG Jobbágy, MD Nosetto, Ecohydrology in a human-dominated landscape, Ecohydrology, vol. 2 (2009), pp. 383-389, ISSN 1936-0584
  21. JK Eccles, L Pratson, RG Newell, RB Jackson, Physical and economic potential of geological CO2 storage in saline aquifers, Environ Sci & Technol, vol. 43 (2009), pp. 1962-1969 [es801572e]
  22. Manzoni, S, RB Jackson, JA Trofymow, A Porporato, The global stoichiometry of litter nitrogen mineralization, Science, vol. 321 (2008), pp. 684-686
  23. Tang, RH, S Han, H Zheng, CW Cook, CS Choi, TE Woerner, RB Jackson, Z-M Pei, Coupling diurnal cytosolic Ca2+ oscillations to the CAS−IP3 pathway in Arabidopsis, Science, vol. 315 (2007), pp. 1423-1426
  24. Fierer, N., RB Jackson, The diversity and biogeography of soil bacterial communities, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, vol. 103 (2006), pp. 626-631
  25. Jackson RB, EG Jobbágy, R Avissar, S Baidya Roy, D Barrett, CW Cook, KA Farley, DC leMaitre, BA McCarl, B Murray, Trading water for carbon with biological carbon sequestration, Science, vol. 310 (2005), pp. 1944-1947
  26. Gill, RA, HW Polley, HB Johnson, LJ Anderson, H Maherali, RB Jackson, Nonlinear grassland responses to past and future atmospheric CO2, Nature, vol. 417 (2002), pp. 279-282
  27. Farley, KA, G Piñeiro, SM Palmer, EG Jobbágy, RB Jackson, Stream acidification and base cation losses with grassland afforestation, Water Resources Research, vol. 44, W00A03 (2008) [doi]
  28. Jackson, RB, JL Banner, EG Jobbágy, WT Pockman, DH Wall, Ecosystem carbon loss with woody plant invasion of grasslands, Nature, vol. 418 (2002), pp. 623-626
  29. Jackson, RB, JT Randerson, JG Canadell, RG Anderson, R Avissar, DD Baldocchi, GB Bonan, K Caldeira, NS Diffenbaugh, CB Field, BA Hungate, EG Jobbágy, LM Kueppers, MD Nosetto, DE Pataki, Protecting climate with forests, Environmental Research Letters, vol. 3 no. 4 (2008) [doi]
  30. Sala, OE, FS Chapin III, JJ Armesto, R Berlow, J Bloomfield, R Dirzo, E Huber-Sanwald, LF Huenneke, RB Jackson, A Kinzig, R Leemans, D Lodge, HA Mooney, M Oesterheld, NL Poff, MT Sykes, BH Walker, M Walker, DH Wall, Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100, Science, vol. 287 (2000), pp. 1770-1774
  31. Finzi, AC, RJ Norby, C Calfapietra, A Gallet-Budynek, B Gielen, WE Holmes, MR Hoosbeek, CM Iversen, RB Jackson, ME Kubiske, J Ledford, M Liberloo, R Oren, A Polle, S Pritchard, DR Zak, WH Schlesinger, R Ceulemans, Increases in nitrogen uptake rather than nitrogen-use efficiency support higher rates of temperate forest productivity under elevated CO2, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, vol. 104 (2007), pp. 14014-14019
  32. Gill RA, LJ Anderson, HW Polley, HB Johnson, RB Jackson, Potential nitrogen constraints on soil carbon sequestration under low and elevated atmospheric CO2, Ecology, vol. 87 (2006), pp. 41-52
  33. Jackson, RB, SR Carpenter, CN Dahm, DM McKnight, RJ Naiman, SL Postel, SW Running, Water in a changing world, Ecological Applications, vol. 11 (2001), pp. 1027-1045

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