Welcome to Yale Afternoons with Alison! In this series, Alison Cole ’99, executive director of the YAA, meets with university leaders to learn more about their priorities and how the alumni community can support them. All conversations occur at Rose Alumni House, the home of the alumni association and a hub for activity on campus. Bring your favorite beverage and enjoy the conversation.
In this episode, Alison chats with Indy Burke, Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean of the Yale School of the Environment. Burke shares how the School of the Environment has a structure that supports interdisciplinary work and why Marsh Hall is one of her favorite buildings on campus.
Dr. Indy Burke, the Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean of the Yale School of the Environment, is an ecosystem ecologist whose research has focused on carbon and nitrogen cycling in dryland ecosystems. She received her B.S. in Biology from Middlebury College and her Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Wyoming, and has taught at Colorado State University and the University of Wyoming. Her work with graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and colleagues has addressed how drylands are influenced by land use management, climatic variability, and regional variability. She teaches in the fields of environmental science, ecosystem ecology, and biogeochemistry.
Dean Burke has received over $20m in grant support for research, and published over 180 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, books, and reports. Burke has served as a member of several National Research Council (NRC) committees to review national environmental research programs and policies, as a member of the NRC Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, on the national Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board, and as a member of numerous National Science Foundation, NASA, EPA, and other advisory panels. She has served on editorial boards for a number of nationally ranked scientific journals.
A respected educator and intellectual leader in the U.S. and internationally, Dean Burke is particularly interested in fostering interdisciplinary scholarship. She came to F&ES - now the Yale School of the Environment (YSE) - in 2016 from the University of Wyoming, where she was the dean of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, one of the leading institutions in the western U.S. for research, teaching, and outreach on natural resource issues.
