Maegen Rochner

Dr. Rochner is a geographer and tree-ring scientist teaching and conducting research as a professor of geography at the University of Louisville. Her research focuses on the use of tree-ring data to reconstruct past climate and environmental conditions. As one example, she is investigating climate change and disturbance in the Beartooth Mountains of Northwest Wyoming. To do this, she is using 1000-yr, tree-ring chronologies developed from remnant and living whitebark pine and Engelmann spruce. While she typically works with long-lived trees from the mountains of the west, she is also interested in how modern climate change is affecting the forests of the southeast, including how trees are responding to ongoing climate change, and how disturbances, such as wildfire and insect outbreaks, are enhanced or modified by changing climate and environmental conditions. As a tree-ring scientist in Louisville, she would like to initiate local research projects focused on urban forests and their responses to climate change, urban heat islands, pollution, and invasive species. With such research she hopes to collaborate with specialists from other UofL departments, such as Urban and Public Affairs, Anthropology, and Biology, as well as with local officials, community organizations, and researchers and educators from Kentucky schools and universities.

Email maegen.rochner@louisville.edu

Research Areas: tree-ring science and applications in climatology, ecology, geomorphology, tree-ring dating, archaeology

Collaborative Interests: grant collaborations, research collaborations, guest lectures, public lectures, departmental seminars, graduate committees, student advising

• Publications

Click here for Dr. Rochner's external website.