Peer Scholars Program launches event series

“Impervious surface!” This is what a city tree would shout if you asked it what its most important environmental factor is, according to postdoctoral researcher Dr. Nora Lahr.

The NCSU Libraries continues its ongoing Peer Scholars Event Series with “Bite-sized Research Series: City Trees Get Ahead of the Climate Change Curve,” a talk by Dr. Lahr, on Wednesday, Oct. 25, from 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. in the Multimedia Seminar Center at the D. H. Hill Jr. Library. Lahr’s talk is free; lunch will be provided to those who register.

Lahr studies urban tree ecology and physiology and is interested in processes that influence long-term tree growth, health, and sustainability in urban and rural forests. Cities provide a current-day look at many conditions that will occur under future climate change scenarios—warmer temperatures, higher CO2 concentrations, and exacerbated droughts. As a result, cities present a unique opportunity for observing and predicting the future effects of climate change. Lahr’s research provides timely insight into tree responses to environmental change, providing critical information for managing North American forests and urban ecosystem services.

“Buildings, roads, and parking lots trap heat and contribute to the ‘urban heat island’ as well as affecting water runoff and infiltration, and soil compaction,” Lahr says.

“Studying how trees in cities have responded to these environmental conditions can help us understand how trees in rural forests will respond to the climate changes that they face in the future,” she continues. “The idea is that city trees and rural trees will actually respond similarly to environmental change, but that city trees are already ahead.”

Lahr earned her Ph.D. from the University of Montana in 2012, where she studied interactions between conifers, bark beetles, and beetle-vectored fungi in the Rocky Mountains and in Norway. She does research at NC State in the labs of Dr. Steve Frank (Entomology & Plant Pathology) and Dr. Rob Dunn (Applied Ecology).

The Peer Scholars Program is a series of workshops launched this year and run through the NCSU Libraries and led by postdoctoral scholars and graduate students with specific research skills, including (but not limited to) design, programming, analytics, immersive technologies, visualization, and data analytics. The events are open to NC State students, faculty, and staff.

Other scheduled talks in the Peer Scholars Event Series include:

Seeing Science: Improving Your Visual Communication Skills
Thurs, Oct. 26, 10:00 a.m-11:30 a.m., ITTC Lab 2, D. H. Hill Jr. Library

Lessons learned: Prototyping augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) at NASA
Monday, Nov. 6, 3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m., Teaching and Visualization Lab, Hunt Library

Communicate Your Science: How to Pitch Your Research to the World!
Tuesday, Nov. 7, 1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m., ITTC Lab 2, D. H. Hill Jr. Library

No Coding Necessary: Digital Game Design for Everyone!
Friday, Nov. 10, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., ITTC Lab 2, D. H. Hill Jr. Library