Sensitivity Analysis and Uncertainty Quantification
Statistical Analysis and Modeling
Education
Ph.D., Environmental modeling and Quantitative Analysis
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2009
M.S., Statistics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2008
B.A., Ecology
Northeast Normal University
2000
Positions
2015 - Present | Staff Scientist 3
2011 - 2015 | Staff Scientist 2
2010 - 2011 | Post-doctoral Fellow
Awards
Outstanding PhD Student Research Award, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008.
Spaeth & Boggess Graduate Fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006.
Honor of Sigma Alpha Gamma Membership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.
Spaeth & Boggess Graduate Fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2004.
Professional Societies
Deputy Coordinator, the International Union of Forest Research, Organizations (IUFRO) Working Party 4.03.01: Uncertainty analyses of spatial and non-spatial models (Feb 2011-Current)
Ecological Society of America (2007-present)
American Geophysical Union (2010-present)
International Association of Landscape Ecology (2003-present)
Publications
Goodsman, D.W., Grosklos, G., Aukema, B.H., Whitehouse, C., Bleiker, K.P., McDowell, N.G., Middleton, R.S. and Xu, C., 2018. The effect of warmer winters on the demography of an outbreak insect is hidden by intraspecific competition. Global change biology, 24(8):3620-3628. doi: 10.1111/gcb.14284.
K. Bennett, T. Bohn, K. Solander, N. McDowell, C. Xu, E. Vivoni, and R. Middleton.2018. Climate change and climate-driven disturbances in the San Juan River sub-basin of the Colorado River. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 22, 709-725.
D. Johnson, J. Needham, C. XU, E.C. Massoud, S.J. Davies, K.J. ,erson-Teixeira, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, J.Q. Chambers, C. H. Chang-Yang, J.M. Chiang, G.B. Chuyong, R. Condit, S. Cordell , C.Fletcher , C.P. Giardina , Thomas W. Giambelluca , N. Gunatilleke , S. Gunatilleke , C.F. Hsieh , S. Hubbell , F. Inman-Narahari , A.R. Kassim , M.Katabuchi , D. Kenfack , Creighton M. Litton , S. Lum , M. Mohamad , N. Musalmah , P.S. Ong , R. Ostertag , L. Sack , N. G. Swenson , I. F. Sun , S. Tan , Duncan W. Thomas , Jill Thompson , Maria Natalia Umaña , M. Uriarte , R. Valencia , S, Yap , J. Zimmerman , N. G. McDowell , S. M. McMahon. Tree survival in the tropics reveals limited demographic diversity. Nature Ecology and Evolutions. In Press.
Z.Hu, S.T. Michaletz , D. J. Johnson , N.G. Mcdowell , X. Zhou, C. Xu. Plant traits control wood decomposition more than climate at the global scale. Global Change Biology. In Press.
N.G. McDowell, K.Bennett, S.Michaletz, K. Solander, C. Xu, R.M. Maxwell, C.Allen, R.Middleton. 2018. Predicting chronic climate-driven disturbances and their mitigation. Trends in Ecology and Evolutions, 33,15-27
Goodsman, D., Aukema, B, N. McDowell, R. Middleton and C. XU. 2018. Seasonally forced stochastic stage and age-structured models: capturing variability using convolutions. Ecology and Evolutions.8, 162–175.
Fisher, R. A., Koven, C. D., Anderegg, W. R. L., Christoffersen, B. O., Dietze, M. C., Farrior, C., Holm, J. A., Hurtt, G., Knox, R. G., Lawrence, P. J., Lichststein, J. W., Longo, M., Matheny, A. M., Medvigy, D., Muller-Landau, H. C., Powell, T. L., Serbin, S. P., Sato, H., Shuman, J., Smith, B., Trugman, A. T., Viskari, T., Verbeeck, H., Weng, E., Xu, C., Xu, X., Zhang, T. and Moorcroft, P. 2018. Vegetation Demographics in Earth System Models: a review of progress and priorities. Global. Change Biology. doi:10.1111/gcb.13910
Walker, A.P.; Quaife, T.; van Bodegom, P.M.; De Kauwe, M.G.; Keenan, T.F.; Joiner, J.; Lomas, M.; MacBean, N.; Xu, C.; Yang, X.; Woodward, F.I..2017. The impact of alternative trait-based Vcmax spatial-scaling hypotheses on global gross primary production. New Phytologist, 215:1370-1386.
McDowell NG and Xu C. 2017. Using traits to uncover tropical forest function. New Phytologist 200: 304-321.
Hu Z, Xu C, McDowell NG, Johnson DJ, Wang M, Huang Z, Zhou X. 2017. Linking microbial community composition to C loss during wood decomposition. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 104: 108-116.
Christoffersen, B. O., Gloor, M., Fauset, S., Fyllas, N. M., Galbraith, D. R., Baker, T. R., Rowland, L., Fisher, R. A., Binks, O. J., Sevanto, S. A., Xu, C., Jansen, S., Choat, B., Mencuccini, M., McDowell, N. G., and Meir, P.2016. Linking hydraulic traits to tropical forest function in a size-structured and trait-driven model (TFS v.1-Hydro), Geosci. Model Dev., 9 (11), 4227-4255, doi:10.5194/gmd-2016-128.
R. J. Norby, L. Gu, I.C. Haworth, A.M. Jensen, B.L. Turner, A.P. Walker, J. M. Warren, D.J. Weston, C. Xu, and K.Winter. Informing models through empirical relationships between foliar phosphorus, nitrogen and photosynthesis across diverse woody species in Panama. New Phytologist, 215: 1425–1437.
Sanna S. and C Xu.2016. Towards more accurate vegetation mortality predictions. Tree Physiology. 36 (10), 1191-1195. doi:10.1093/treephys/tpw082
Ali, A., C Xu, A Rogers, RA Fisher, SD Wullschleger, EC Massoud, JA Vrugt, JD Muss, NG McDowell, JB Fisher, PB Reich, CJ Wilson.2016. A global mechanistic model of plant photosynthesis capacity. Geoscientific Model Development, 9, 587-606, doi:10.5194/gmd-9-587-2016.
N.G. McDowell, A.P. Williams, C. Xu, W.T. Pockman, L.T. Dickman, S. Sevanto, R. Pangle, J. Limousin, J. Plaut, D. Scott Mackay, J. Ogee, J.C. Domec, C.D. Allen, R.A. Fisher, X. Jiang, J. Muss, D.D. Breshears, S. A. Rauscher, C. Koven. 2016. Multi-scale predictions of massive conifer mortality due to chronic temperature rise. Nature Climate Change 6, 295–300 doi:10.1038/nclimate2873
