Front Range Student Ecology Symposium

FRSES 2026

Dr. Whendee Silver

University of California Berkeley

Dr. Whendee Silver is Professor of Ecosystem Ecology and Biogeochemistry in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at U.C. Berkeley. She received her PhD in Ecosystem Ecology from Yale University. Her work seeks to determine the biogeochemical effects of climate change and human impacts on the environment, and the potential for mitigating these effects. The Silver Lab is currently working on drought and hurricane impacts on tropical forests, climate change mitigation potential of grasslands, and greenhouse gas dynamics of peatlands and wetlands. Professor Silver is the lead scientist of the Marin Carbon Project, which is determining the potential for land-based climate change mitigation, particularly by composting high-emission organic waste for soil amendments to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide. The Silver Lab was awarded the Innovation Prize by the American Carbon Registry (2015) for this work. Professor Silver is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union, the Ecological Society of America, and is a Kavli Fronteirs of Science Fellow. She was named a University of California Climate Champion for 2016 for outstanding teaching, research and public service in the areas of climate change solutions, action and broad engagement.