Lab researcher receives prestigious Fulbright Scholar Award

Nathan G. McDowell

August 25, 2010—Nate McDowell of LANL's Earth and Environmental Sciences Division has earned a Fulbright Scholar Award. The 10-month award will enable him to study vegetation mortality patterns and mechanisms, carbon cycling, and climate in the European Union. McDowell will be based in Slovenia, where he also will present guest lectures on plant physiology and forestry courses at the University of Ljubljana.

McDowell received a doctorate in tree physiology at Oregon State University and came to Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2003 as a Director's Postdoctoral Fellow. He became a staff scientist in Earth and Environmental Sciences, where, as part of the Earth Systems Observations group, he studies the interdependency of plant and ecosystem water and carbon cycles and their response to climate and disturbance.

McDowell recently received an Early Career Research Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

He serves on advisory committees for the National Science Foundation, DOE, and LANL, is an associate editor for two international journals, and has testified before Congress regarding DOE's climate change research.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to "increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." The recipients are chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential for the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.