Authored by: Aubrey Pawlikowski Rebecca Abney, associate professor of forest and disturbed soils at the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation. The CAREER award is one of the foundation’s most competitive and prestigious honors, recognizing early-career faculty with the potential to serve as academic role models and lead advances in research and education. Abney’s five-year, $836,711 grant is funded through NSF’s Life and Environments Through Time and Water, Landscape, and Critical Zone Processes programs. Her project, titled “CAREER: Composition, transport and fate of dissolved and pyrogenic organic matter in fire-impacted soils,” will explore how disturbances such as fire affect soil processes critical to carbon storage and water quality. Her research will examine how factors such as soil type, burn severity, erosion and time since fire influence the presence and movement of dissolved organic matter and pyrogenic carbon—materials formed when organic matter is exposed to fire—in soil and water. This portion of the project will use simulated leaching experiments and sediment fence studies to assess how these compounds travel through soils and into outflow water under varying post-fire conditions. “This project will advance our understanding of soil processes that control the amount of carbon stored in soil,” Abney said. To complement this work, Abney will also establish a long-term tree vault study designed to track how biochar, a type of pyrogenic carbon, moves through and interacts with different soil types over time. This research will provide insight into how these carbon compounds persist, transform or are transported across environmental gradients. By revealing how organic matter responds to fire-related disturbances, the project aims to fill key knowledge gaps in the global carbon cycle. The results could inform land management practices and strategies for maintaining soil health and water quality in fire-affected ecosystems. “Understanding the controls on soil carbon storage and loss is critical for managing our natural environment for plant productivity, for improving our water quality, and for mitigating the effects of ongoing anthropogenic climate change,” Abney added. “Dr. Abney’s work exemplifies the kind of innovative, interdisciplinary research that addresses real-world environmental challenges,” said J. Todd Petty, dean of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. “Her CAREER award reflects both her scientific excellence and her commitment to preparing the next generation of scientists to manage our changing landscapes.” Administered by the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., the award supports research beginning in July 2025 and underscores UGA’s growing leadership in soil science and environmental research.
