- 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 research group is currently working on funded research addressing a diversity of topics: 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 control of reactive nitrogen emissions in agricultural soils; and bioreactor microbial community dynamics in an acid mine drainage treatment system. The tools used in these research projects include chemical mass balances, stable isotopes, and high-throughput environmental genomics.
Since 1990, White's group has been studying greenhouse gas emissions in northern landscapes under changing climate, including a current NASA-funded project investigating methane cycling in lakes, wetlands, and soils at the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet. The results are used to refine mechanistic models that describe methane cycling in detail and which will allow prediction of landscape methane emissions in response to climatic change in the Arctic.
In his teaching program, White offers courses in Aquatic Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, and Environmental Science. He mentors undergraduate and graduate research projects that span a wide range of fields, including environmental science, environmental chemistry, hydrogeology, biogeochemistry, and applied ecology.
White's research group is currently working on funded research addressing a diversity of topics: 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 control of reactive nitrogen emissions in agricultural soils; and bioreactor microbial community dynamics in an acid mine drainage treatment system. The tools used in these research projects include chemical mass balances, stable isotopes, and high-throughput environmental genomics.
Since 1990, White's group has been studying greenhouse gas emissions in northern landscapes under changing climate, including a current NASA-funded project investigating methane cycling in lakes, wetlands, and soils at the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet. The results are used to refine mechanistic models that describe methane cycling in detail and which will allow prediction of landscape methane emissions in response to climatic change in the Arctic.
In his teaching program, White offers courses in Aquatic Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, and Environmental Science. He mentors undergraduate and graduate research projects that span 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
- “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)
- “Spatial Variation in Flux, δ13C and δ2H of Methane in a Small Arctic Lake with Fringing Wetland in Western Greenland,” (with H.A. Thompson, L.M. Pratt, and P.E. Sauer), Biogeochemistry, Vol. 131, 17-33 (2016)
- “Hydrogen Isotopic Composition of Arctic and Atmospheric CH4 Determined by a Portable Near-infrared Cavity Ring-down Spectrometer with a Cryogenic Pre-concentrator,” (with Y. Chen, K.K. Lehmann, Y. Peng, L.M. Pratt, S.B. Cadieux, B.S. Lollar, G. Lacrampe Couloume, and T.C. Onstott), Astrobiology, Vol. 16, No 16, DOI: 10.1089/ast.2015.1395 (2016)
- “Unanticipated Geochemical and Microbial Community Structure Under Seasonal Ice Cover in a Dilute, Dimictic Arctic Lake,” (with U.M.E. Schütte, S.B. Cadieux, C. Hemmerich, and L.M. Pratt), Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol. 7, 1035. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01035 (2016)
- “Large fractionations of C and H isotopes related to methane oxidation in Arctic lakes,” (with S.B. Cadieux, P.E. Sauer, Y. Peng, A.E. Goldman, and L.M. Pratt) Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 187, 141-155 (2016)
- “Passive sampling method for high-resolution concentration and isotopic composition of dissolved methane in Arctic lakes,” (with A.E. Goldman, S.B. Cadieux, and L.M. Pratt), Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, Vol. 14, 69–78, doi: 10.1002/lom3.10070 (2016)
- “Combined Flux Chamber and Genomics Approach Links Nitrous Acid Emissions to Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria and Archaea in Urban and Agricultural Soil,” (with N.K. Scharko, U.M.E. Schuette, A.E. Berke, L. Banina, H.R. Peel, M.A. Donaldson, C. Hemmerich, and J.D. Raff), Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 49, 13825−13834 (2015)