- Phone:
- (812) 856-0084
- Email:
- whitej@indiana.edu
- Room Number:
- MSBII 412
- Areas of Interest:
- Environmental Biogeochemistry ,
- Climate Change ,
- Aquatic Chemistry ,
- Limnology
Education
- Ph.D., Syracuse University, 1984
- M.S., Rutgers University, 1979
- B.A., Gettysburg College, PA, 1977
Courses
- Aquatic Chemistry
- Environmental Engineering: Energy Systems
Biography
Dr. Jeffrey R. White has been with O'Neill since 1983. He is a biogeochemist and studies the effects of human activities on the functioning of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. He previously served as director of the Integrated Program in the Environment.
White’s most recent research areas have included climate change effects on greenhouse gas cycles in lakes, wetlands, and terrestrial soils of Arctic landscapes; plant and soil microbial community response to permafrost thaw; microbial processes affecting reactive nitrogen emissions in soils. The tools used in this research include chemical mass balances, stable isotopes, and environmental genomics.
White’s group has studied greenhouse gas emissions in northern landscapes under changing climate, including a NASA-funded project investigating methane cycling in lakes, wetlands, and soils at the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet and plant methane emissions at DOE’s SPRUCE project. The results help refine mechanistic models of methane cycling used to predict methane emissions in northern landscapes in response to climatic change.
In his teaching program, White has taught courses in Aquatic Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, and Environmental Science. He mentored undergraduate and graduate research projects spanning a wide range of fields, including environmental science, environmental chemistry, hydrogeology, biogeochemistry, and applied ecology.
Highlights
- IU Distinguished Faculty Research Lecturer, 2018
- Associate Vice Provost for Research, IU, 2006-2009
- Associate Dean, O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, IU, 2001-05
- Fellow, U.S. Committee on Institutional Cooperation's Academic Leadership Program, 2005-06
- Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, 1998
- Trustees Teaching Excellence Recognition Award, 1998, 1997
In the News
- "Biogeochemist Jeffrey White" - Indiana Public Media, August 5, 2018
- "Last Year Was the Hottest Since Temperature Record Keeping Began" - Time, July 17, 2015
- "Climate Controlled- Team Sycamore back from success at Climate Ride Midwest" - myinstride.com, January 12, 2015
- "IU Researcher a Witness to Greenland's Melting" - Herald-Times, July 12, 2013
- "Sustainability scholar to deliver keynote at 2014 Sustainability Community of Practice" - IU Bloomington Newsroom, May 2014
Selected Works
- “Nitrogen cycling microbiomes are structured by plant mycorrhizal associations, with consequences for nitrogen oxide fluxes in forests,”(with R.M. Mushinski, Z.C. Payne, J.D. Raff, M.E. Craig, S.E. Pusede, D.B. Rusch, R.P. and Phillips) Global Change Biology, DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15439; (2020)
- “Macroinvertebrate response to fine sediment removal and streambed restoration in the fawn River, Steuben County, Indiana,” (with S.E. Burns, J.A. Morgan, and T.V. Royer), Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, Vol. 128, No.2, 170–186, (2019)
- “Variation in soil microbial nitrogen-cycling community structure relates to mycorrhizal dominance with consequences for nitrogen oxide emissions,” (with R.M. Mushinski, R.P. Phillips, Z.C. Payne, S.E. Pusede, D.B. Rusch, and J.D. Raff), ISME Journal, ISMEJ-19-01167A, (2019)
- “Fine sediment removal influences biogeochemical processes in a gravel-bottomed stream,” (with J.A.. Morgan and T.V. Royer), Environmental Management, DOI: 10.1007/s00267-019-01187-2; (2019)
- “Effect of permafrost thaw on plant and soil fungal community in the boreal forest: Does fungal community change mediate plant productivity response?,” (with U.M.E. Schütte, J.A. Henning, Y. Ye, A. Bowling, J. Ford, H. Genet, M. Waldrop, M. Turetsky, J.D. Bever), Journal of Ecology, DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.13139; (2019)
- “Microbial mechanisms and ecosystem flux estimation for aerobic NOy emissions from deciduous forest soils,” (with R.M. Mushinski, R.P. Phillips, Z.C. Payne, R.B. Abney, I. Jo, S. Fei, S.E. Pusede, D.B. Rusch, J.D. Raff), PNAS, 1-8 (2019)<
- “Seasonal changes in sulfur biogeochemistry of a dilute, dimictic Arctic lake: Implications for paired sulfur isotope records from ancient oceans,” (with S.A. Young, S.B. Cadieux, Y. Peng, and L.M. Pratt), Chemical Geology, (2018) DOI: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.08.013
- “Streambed Restoration to Remove Fine Sediment Alters Reach-Scale Transient Storage in a Low-Gradient 5th Order River, Indiana, USA,” (with A. Ward, J. Morgan, and T.V. Royer), Hydrological Processes, 1-15 (2018)
- “Spatial Variation in Stable Isotopic Composition of Organic Matter of Macrophytes and Sediments from a Small Arctic Lake in West Greenland,” (with H.A. Thompson and L.M. Pratt), Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, 2018, Vol. 50, No 1, ID1420282 (2018)
- “Exceptional summer warming leads to contrasting outcomes for methane cycling in small Arctic lakes of Greenland,” (with S.B. Cadieux and L.M. Pratt) Biogeosciences, 559–574 (2017)
- “Variation of Stable Isotopic leads to contrasting outcomes for methane cycling in small Arctic lakes of Greenland,” (with H.A. Thompson and L.M. Pratt), Biogeosciences, 559–574 (2017)