Rempe Recognized for Early Career Contributions

December 8, 2024

Daniella Rempe, an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, has received the American Geophysical Union’s Early Career Award in Hydrologic Sciences. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to hydrology through research, education and societal impacts.

Rempe studies groundwater and soil moisture and its relationship to drought and climate change. She said that the award was validation for her work and the work of those with whom she has collaborated.

“An award like this is not just about me. It represents a lot of people and a lot of effort, and that’s what we’re all celebrating,” she said.

Jackson School of Geosciences Professor Bayani Cardenas, who nominated Rempe, said that she is a highly sought-after researcher with a knack for getting field measurements in difficult places. “She’s also a dedicated teacher who has instituted changes to our teaching that are impressive for anyone, let alone someone at such an early career stage,” he said.

Rempe has developed novel research techniques to measure moisture and gases in deep bedrock. Her work is especially relevant to studying the critical zone — the part of the natural world where life flourishes, and usually defined as the bottom of groundwater to the top of tree canopies.

Notable findings from Rempe include the discovery that trees widely use bedrock moisture as a water reserve, which can help sustain them during drought, and taking some of the first carbon dioxide measurements from within forest bedrock. This research found that nearly a third of CO2 released by forests comes from microbes in rock fractures far beneath the soil.