Forest Ecologist Sara Kuebbing Appointed to a New Faculty Position

Healthy wildlife, resilient forests, and thriving biodiversity — for Sara Kuebbing, it all comes down to the plants and soils in the ground beneath them. 

Kuebbing, a research scientist who will be transitioning July 1 into a new role as an assistant professor of temperate forest resilience at the Yale School of the Environment, said her interest in plant and soil science began unexpectedly during her undergraduate studies at the University of Delaware. At the time, she was focused on wildlife, but a course in soil science revealed connections she hadn’t previously considered.

“I realized that if you think about nesting sites for the bald eagle, for example, you have to think about the plants, and if you think about the plants, you have to think about the soils,” Kuebbing said.

She gained further insight into these dynamics early in her career working for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Vermont, where she assisted with habitat management and restoration. The position gave her firsthand experience with conservation on the ground and exposed her to the challenges that threaten forest health, particularly invasive species.

“We’d protect the landscape from development, but the next biggest threat was the forest becoming overrun by invasive species,” she said.

That fieldwork helped Kuebbing to spot what she describes as a “disconnect” in invasive species management. “Forests contain multiple invasive species, but our guidance addressed them one at a time,” she said. “A management implication of this is that the common practice of removing a single invasion can release less competitive invaders, allowing them to persist.”

Motivated to explore these dynamics further, she earned a doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Tennessee under the supervision of invasive species scientist Daniel Simberloff. In 2014, she came to YSE as a postdoctoral researcher, working with Mark Bradford, the E.H. Harriman Professor of Soils and Ecosystem Ecology. She later served as an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Kuebbing returned to YSE in 2022 as a research scientist with the Yale Applied Science Synthesis Program (YASSP), a joint initiative of The Forest School at YSE and the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture. YASSP connects academic research in forestry and land management with real-world policy and management applications.

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“As inaugural research director of YASSP, Sara rapidly built a team that is synthesizing and producing science in collaboration with a wide range of external entities, from land managers to environmental NGOs to corporations to policymakers,” Bradford said. “That science is advancing rigor and transparency in how we steward lands for climate, timber, food and biodiversity. We are so fortunate that she is continuing to build her research program at YSE in her new faculty position.”

As assistant professor of temperate forest resilience, Kuebbing will continue her research on how forest management affects carbon sequestration, carbon stocks, and climate mitigation, and how to strengthen confidence in carbon markets. She will teach courses on ecosystems and landscapes, and forest health.

“I encourage students to appreciate that they are ‘doing science’ rather than passively ‘taking’ a science course,” she said. 

Kuebbing said YSE’s emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and translating research into practice drew her to the position. She’s looking forward to continuing her work with the American Forest Foundation, the Society of American Foresters, and Clean Air Task Force as well as developing new partnerships. 

“There is a critical need for rapid, adaptive information on how forest management decisions today impact essential ecosystem services tomorrow,” she said. “My ultimate goal is to provide science-based management tools to ensure temperate forests remain healthy and resilient.”