From Tree Rings to Transdisciplinary Research

In this talk, the speaker will reflect on the path she has taken in her work over the past 3 decades, first using tree rings to reconstruct climate in order better understand the long-term natural variability of the climate system, but evolving over the years to seek ways that her research could help address environmental and societal problems.  Initially, her engagements with water resource managers interested in tree-ring reconstructions of streamflow were largely serendipitous but they became increasingly intentional.  The growing intentionality was motivated by graduate student questions and new UA collaborators and resulted in a diversification of her teaching and research as well as continued work with water resource managers.  All have been strongly informed by the theory and practice of transdisciplinary research and associated approaches.  For her, blending these approaches with use-inspired research questions resulted in fresh research ideas and opportunities as well as the chance to learn and grow from collaborations with other researchers and the water resource management community.  In this talk, she hopes to share some of the lessons she has learned along the way and provide encouragement to others contemplating a less traditional research path.

About the Speaker:

Connie Woodhouse is a Regents’ Professor in the School of Geography, Development, and Environment at the University of Arizona, with joint appointments in the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research and Department of Geosciences.  Her background is in climatology, paleoclimatology, and dendrochronology and she specializes in the study of streamflow/climate interactions using instrumental records and tree-ring data, primarily in the western US.  A particular focus of her work is on engagement with resource managers to develop research that addresses the needs of decision-makers. Woodhouse completed a Ph.D. in geosciences at the University of Arizona in 1996. She became an American Geophysical Union Fellow in 2022. 

Please RSVP if you will attend the reception so we have enough food-