Justin Gay
Justin Gay
Undergraduate degree: B.S Environmental Science, Endicott College, 2011
Master’s Degree: M.A in Science Curriculum and Instruction, University of Vermont, 2015
Current: 2nd year PhD student pursuing a degree in Ecology and Environmental Science
Advisor: Jack Brookshire
Justin Gay comes to Montana State from Middlebury, Vermont where he was a former High School Environmental Science Teacher. In addition to teaching he has spent summers working as researcher at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. His research interests now focus on understanding how terrestrial ecosystems “work” through a biogeochemical lens, and how future global changes are altering their ability to function. He is currently working on a diverse array of projects across a number of different systems including; savannas in the northern great plains, tropical montane forests, agroecosystems, and subalpine grasslands. His research seeks to improve our current understanding of the consequences around global changes (CO2 fertilization, climate change, shifts in disturbance regimes) and their impact on nutrient loss, and eventual limitation, at the ecosystem scale. He is integrating a number of approaches to answer these questions across different spatial and temporal scales including: field sampling and laboratory analysis, satellite imagery, ecosystem modeling, and stable isotope approaches.
In his free time, Justin likes exploring the wild and public lands of the American west via skis, running shoes, drift boats, and bike tires.