Susan Hubbard, Ph.D.

Dr. Hubbard is the Director of the Earth Sciences Division at Berkeley Lab. Susan received her Ph.D. from Berkeley in Civil and Environmental Engineering, her M.S. in Geophysics, and her B.S. in Geology.

Dr. Hubbard’s research focuses on advancing subsurface characterization and monitoring, with a particular emphasis on development of methods that integrate geophysical and other datasets for quantifying subsurface processes relevant to contaminant remediation, carbon cycling, water resources, and enhanced hydrocarbon recovery. She has published approximately 100 papers on these topics and co-edited the first textbook on Hydrogeophysics. She joined Berkeley Lab as a scientist in 1994, and now serves in scientific leadership roles for several large DOE projects, including the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment, the Subsurface Biogeochemistry SFA, and the Advanced Simulation Capability for Environmental Management.

Dr. Hubbard serves on several scientific advisory boards, including the DOE Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee. She is the Associate Director for the Berkeley Water Center, is a co-editor for the Vadose Zone Journal, and is an Associate Editor for JGR-Biogeosciences. She was the 2009 recipient of the Frank Frischknecht Award for leadership and innovation in near-surface geophysics, was a Geological Society of America (GSA) Birdsall Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer in 2010, and became a GSA Fellow in 2011.

http://esd.lbl.gov/about/staff/susanhubbard/

1. What inspires you to work in STEM?

The interactions and feedbacks among humans and the Earth – including plants, microbes, water, geology, and the atmosphere – ultimately shape the world in which we live. A growing human population, whose numbers and lifestyles drive an ever-increasing demand for clean water, food, and energy, is currently reshaping these interactions on a global scale. It is now clear that to optimally and sustainably manage the Earth’s natural resources, it is necessary to consider the complexity of the natural environment as an integrated system. This is challenging, as it necessitates quantification of biological, geochemical, geophysical, hydrological, and atmospheric process interactions that occur across great time and space scales. It is this challenge, coupled with the importance and urgency of developing science-based environmental solutions, which inspire me to work in STEM.

2. What excites you about your work at the Energy Department/Berkeley Lab?

There are two things that most excite me about working at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The first is the nature of the scientific challenges that are being tackled at the Laboratory, many of which are first-order questions. The second aspect is the team-based approach to tackling these challenges, which brings together a vast array of world-class expertise and facilities. Team-based approaches are exciting to me because they allow one to become exposed to new disciplines and ideas and to tackle problems that would be insurmountable by individual investigators, often leading to game-changing advances. As an example, I am currently involved in a large DOE project that seeks to quantify feedbacks between Arctic terrestrial ecosystems and climate. Permafrost in the Arctic contains a vast amount of frozen carbon. When thawed through climate change, microbes can degrade this soil carbon, respiring a huge pulse of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. On the other hand, warming could lead to the growth of more vegetation, which could take up CO₂ from the atmosphere. The complexity of the arctic ecosystem – again, the coupling of hydrogeology, geochemistry, and biology – complicates a prediction about the Arctic’s trajectory. Which will more influence our climate and to what extent – the subsurface microbial activity or vegetation responses? This is an example of a first-order question that requires a scientific team to approach, which we are doing through integrated experiments, observations, and models that span from centimeter to kilometer length scales. Each member on the team has a particular expertise and deliverable that they contribute to the integrated project tasks. For example, my role in this project is to use geophysical methods to quantify subsurface processes and to develop approaches for fusing different types of data collected across scales. (http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2013/01/03/permafrost-soil/)

3. How can our country engage more women, girls, and other underrepresented groups in STEM?

Although many STEM topics can seem abstract to students, I rarely meet individuals who do not find our Earth-based puzzles interesting and challenging when they are exposed to it. I also find that once exposed to the broader challenges, students are more motivated to develop the STEM tools needed to solve the problems. Increasing opportunities for scientists to share their excitement about STEM topics with underrepresented groups is thus critical. To facilitate this, the national laboratories have internship programs for undergraduates (http://science.energy.gov/wdts/suli/) and other groups. These are excellent programs, which not only involve students in national laboratory science projects but also provide training in technical writing, presentation delivery, and many other elements that are important for a successful STEM career.

4. Do you have tips you would recommend for someone looking to enter your field of work?

Because of the multidisciplinary nature of Earth and environmental sciences, it is ideal have both a broad familiarity with related fields (such as geology, hydrology, geochemistry, geophysics, and biology) as well as a specific expertise. To develop a foundation plus a specialty often requires the dedication to step above and beyond the coursework that is usually required. This could entail taking extra classes, volunteering to become involved in professor’s research projects, or volunteering to intern at environmental companies. In particular, volunteering allows those new to the field to become exposed to current topics and to broaden their network.

5. When you have free time, what are your hobbies?

My favorite hobby is making wine. Grape-growing and wine-making processes have many similarities to Earth sciences research. For example, climate plays a dominant role in determining the success of a particular viticultural region or vintage. However, wine grapes of the same variety, which are grown in the same microclimatic region and made using similar practices, can lead to remarkably different wines when the grapes are grown in different soils. Understanding how Earth processes contribute to wine-grape properties, and how biogeochemical perturbations made during wine making additionally affect the flavors, aromas and texture of wine, is fascinating and in the end leads to (hopefully!) a delicious product. Another recent hobby is raising chickens as pets and for eggs. I very much enjoy watching their antics and appreciate, given my busy schedule, their low-maintenance upkeep.