UNH Today

Dr. Serita Frey, professor of soilmicrobial ecology in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, and researcher with the NH Agricultural Experiment Station, has been elected to the board of directors of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), a continental-scale observatory funded by the National Science Foundation to measure ecosystem change over time.

Frey received her B.A. and M.S. degrees from the University of Virginia and her Ph.D. from Colorado State University in 1999. She currently chairs the Natural Resources and Earth System Science Ph.D. Program at UNH. She was the NEON member representative for UNH and chaired the NEON Domain Science and Education Coordination Committee for the Northeast Domain (Domain 1) prior to joining the NEON board.

Frey’s research focuses on soil microbial responses to globalchange, with an emphasis on how long-term soil warming, simulated nitrogen deposition, and biotic invasion is altering soil fungal ecology and evolution. Her research team maintains three long-term global change experiments at the Harvard Forest Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site and a statewide, distributed soil sensor network in New Hampshire.

Frey is editor-in-chief for Issues in Ecology and is on the board of editors for Ecology/Ecological Monographs. Honors include the Distinguished Ecologist Alumna Award from the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology at Colorado State University; a Bullard Fellowship from Harvard University; and a NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award.