Maria Uriarte, Ph.D.

Maria considers herself a teacher through and through, she is motivated by making a difference in people’s lives through education. Maria studies the processes that drive forest dynamics in tropical regions, with a focus on forest recovery from human land use and extreme weather events (e.g., hurricanes, fire), and the consequences of these dynamics for ecosystem services. She has published ~180 peer-reviewed publications, including papers in Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ecology Letters, Ecological Monographs, Ecology, and many other top-ranked publications; and 6 book chapters (Google Scholar H-index 60, i10-index 145). She had received ~$3.8 million in research funding as lead PI with a total of ~$24 million in research funding to date as PI or co-PI. She has advised 22 graduate students, mentored 9 postdoctoral researchers, and served on the advisory committee of over 50 students throughout her career. Her work has been recognized with a Leopold Leadership Fellowship from the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, and a Science without Borders Fellowship from the Brazilian government. Her research has been featured in multiple media outlets including the New York Times, CNN, PBS, and others.