I am a broadly-trained agroecologist who enjoys thinking about agricultural problems at the systems scale, with interests that span the many interactions within an agricultural food web. I am currently a faculty member in the Plant Sciences department in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming (as of August 2013).
My academic past: I studied biology at the Rochester Institute of Technology (BS, 2003). On the first day of my General Ecology course, our professor Franz Seischab took us on a walk around campus and regaled us with stories of all the changes that had happened in the ecosystems around us in the last 50 years. My eyes were opened to my environment in a brand new way, and it is that sense of discovery that inspired me to be an ecologist - to learn and teach about the world that we all live in. I was particularly interested in the role of disturbance in ecological communities, a concept quite applicable to the study of agriculture. I moved to Pennsylvania State University to explore how best to balance pest control and soil quality in organic agriculture, with a focus on the biological pest control of insects (PhD, 2009). I then worked as a post-doctoral scientist at Washington State University studying the effects of pathogen diversity on host mortality of the Colorado potato beetle (2009 – 2010), gaining perspective in both biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research and the practical realities of "big ag" potato fields. I completed a second post-doc at the University of Maine, where I balanced teaching and research responsibilities. I taught an "Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture" class for majors and non-majors, making an effort to engage students through activities and class discussion. My research, in collaboration with social scientists and my supervisor Eric Gallandt, characterized New England organic farmer weed management philosophies. This project was a great opportunity for me to incorporate the human dimension of pest management into my ecological research. I also collaborated with MS student Sonja Birthisel to quantify sources of variation of weed seed predation rates in a diverse Maine agricultural landscape. I particularly appreciate learning from the extensive experience of farmers, and I am passionate about supporting local food systems. I enjoy exploring the dramatic landscapes of the West, and feel as if I have just barely begun traveling around the big wondrous expanse that is my new home in Wyoming - lots of ground to cover! In my spare time, I enjoy hiking, road trips, cooking, yoga, trying to be a runner again, and reading all sorts of things.
Contact me at rjabbour(at)uwyo(dot)edu. Please feel free to drop a note if you are interested in working with me as an undergraduate, graduate student, or post-doc.
My academic past: I studied biology at the Rochester Institute of Technology (BS, 2003). On the first day of my General Ecology course, our professor Franz Seischab took us on a walk around campus and regaled us with stories of all the changes that had happened in the ecosystems around us in the last 50 years. My eyes were opened to my environment in a brand new way, and it is that sense of discovery that inspired me to be an ecologist - to learn and teach about the world that we all live in. I was particularly interested in the role of disturbance in ecological communities, a concept quite applicable to the study of agriculture. I moved to Pennsylvania State University to explore how best to balance pest control and soil quality in organic agriculture, with a focus on the biological pest control of insects (PhD, 2009). I then worked as a post-doctoral scientist at Washington State University studying the effects of pathogen diversity on host mortality of the Colorado potato beetle (2009 – 2010), gaining perspective in both biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research and the practical realities of "big ag" potato fields. I completed a second post-doc at the University of Maine, where I balanced teaching and research responsibilities. I taught an "Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture" class for majors and non-majors, making an effort to engage students through activities and class discussion. My research, in collaboration with social scientists and my supervisor Eric Gallandt, characterized New England organic farmer weed management philosophies. This project was a great opportunity for me to incorporate the human dimension of pest management into my ecological research. I also collaborated with MS student Sonja Birthisel to quantify sources of variation of weed seed predation rates in a diverse Maine agricultural landscape. I particularly appreciate learning from the extensive experience of farmers, and I am passionate about supporting local food systems. I enjoy exploring the dramatic landscapes of the West, and feel as if I have just barely begun traveling around the big wondrous expanse that is my new home in Wyoming - lots of ground to cover! In my spare time, I enjoy hiking, road trips, cooking, yoga, trying to be a runner again, and reading all sorts of things.
Contact me at rjabbour(at)uwyo(dot)edu. Please feel free to drop a note if you are interested in working with me as an undergraduate, graduate student, or post-doc.
