Assistant Professor
Joan Dudney is an Assistant Professor of Global Change Ecology at the Bren School and the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Research in the Landscapes of Change (LOC) Lab is focused on understanding the causes and consequences of global change in terrestrial ecosystems. Joan’s current work seeks to disentangle the complex effects of climate change on forest communities, as well as the cascading impacts of changing disturbance regimes, including tree disease, bark beetles, and fire. She actively engages with and contributes to the fast-evolving literature on diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) in academic and research spaces. Joan will be joining the Bren School following a David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Davis and an independent postdoctoral fellowship based at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). Joan received her bachelor's degree from Occidental College and volunteered for the Peace Corps in Paraguay, where she learned Spanish and the indigenous language, Guarani.