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Cristina Castanha

Principal Research Associate

Building 074B, Room 0105

M/S 74R316C

Phone: 510-486-7500

ccastanha@lbl.gov

Curriculum Vitae

  • Researcher ID
  • Google Scholar
  • Education
  • Experience
  • Awards
  • Professional Affiliations
  • Teaching Experience
  • Mentoring and Supervisory Experience

Biography

Cristina Castanha is an assistant research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley and a senior research associate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She is an ecologist and biogeochemist who studies the effects of climate change and other anthropogenic influences on vegetative land cover and the terrestrial carbon cycle. For the past three years she has been studying conifer seedling demographics in Colorado’s Front Range. And over the past fifteen years she has worked in a variety of locations and on a series of collaborations investigating the controls on carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Her work uses natural environmental gradients, field experiments, isotope analyses, and laboratory analyses. Cristina holds a B.S. in Fermentation Science from UC Davis (1985), an M.S. in Environmental Systems from Humboldt State University (1992), and a Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley (2004). At UC Berkeley she served as lecturer in Environmental Sciences and as teaching assistant for a variety of classes including Environmental Problems, Development and Classification of Soils, and Renewable Resources for Electrical Generation.

Publications

  • Researcher ID
  • Google Scholar

Education

  • Ph.D. Energy and Resources, University of California Berkeley, 2004, "Mineral and Climate Controls on Soil Organic Matter Storage and Cycling."
  • M.S. Environmental Systems, Humboldt State University, 1994, "The USA/Brazilian Rural Electrification Pilot Program; a technical and economic analysis."
  • C.S. Energy Management and Design, Sonoma State University, 1992
  • B.S. Fermentation Science, University of California Davis, 1985, Honors

Experience

  • Principal Research Associate, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) - Earth Sciences Division (ESD), 2012-Present
  • Assistant Research Scientist, University of California, Berkeley, 2008-Present
  • Senior Research Associate, LBNL-ESD, 2005-2012
  • Lecturer, Environmental Science Senior Research Seminar, UC Berkeley, 2004-2005
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley, 2001
  • GSI, UC Berkeley: Quantitative Aspects of Environmental Problems (Harte), Summer Soil Field Course (Amundson/Singer/Dahlgren), Development and Classification of Soils (Amundson), Field Study of Soil Development (Amundson), Renewable Resources for Electrical Generation (Morris), 1994-2004

Awards

  • Kearney Foundation of Soil Science, 2001-2003
  • Luso-American Development Foundation, 1998-1999
  • Compton Foundation, 1998-1999
  • Winslow Foundation, 1997-1998
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 1993-1997
  • National Science Foundation California Pre-Doctoral Program Honorable Mention, 1993

Professional Affiliations

  • American Geophysical Union
  • California Botanical Society
  • California Native Plant Society
  • Ecological Society of America
  • Portuguese-American Postgraduate Society

Teaching Experience

  • UC Berkeley Lecturer, Environmental Science Senior Research Seminar - 2004-5
  • UC Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor - 2001
  • Graduate Student Instructor Appointments:
    • Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems (Harte) - 2004
    • Summer Soil Field Course (Amundson/Singer/Dahlgren) - 2000
    • Development and Classification of Soils (Amundson) - 1998
    • Field Study of Soil Development (Amundson) - 1998
    • Renewable Resources for Electrical Generation (Morris) - 1994

Mentoring and Supervisory Experience

  • 2009-2010. Mentor to Bettina Weibel, MS. University of Zurich, Switzerland. 2010. Conifer seedling demographics across a forest to tundra gradient in the Rocky Mountains. M. Schmidt (faculty representative), C. Castanha and M. S. Torn (co-advisors).
  • 2008-2010. Supervise crew of three to seven concurrent field technicians at the Mountain Research Station, Niwot Ridge Colorado.
  • 2005-2010 Oversee numerous graduate and baccalaureate students, summer interns, volunteers, and up to five concurrent part time lab assistants in Margaret Torn’s lab, LBNL.
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