Joshua M Birkebak

Bio

I am a technical professional working in ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry at ORNL as of November 2023. I primarily work in the Terrestrial Ecosystem Science SFA (https://tes-sfa.ornl.gov/) on components of the SPRUCE (https://mnspruce.ornl.gov/) and MOFLUX (https://moflux.org/monitoring-the-breathing-of-the-forest-at-moflux/) projects. My laboratory and analytical experience is expanding and includes analysis of soils for physical, chemical, and biological characterization, analysis of above and below ground vegetation biomass and nutrient composition, measurement of ecophysiological properties of vascular plants (respiration and water potential), as well as registration and archival of the invaluable samples collected over long-term manipulative experiments performed on ORNL led initiatives.

Prior to working at ORNL, I was the laboratory director at a small business environmental microbiology laboratory which focused on microbial ecology in the built environmental. I worked on many projects from day-to-day analysis of contracted samples (viable culture, microscopy, qPCR, water chemistry) to specialized custom projects (airborne viral disinfection efficacy testing and method development, surface disinfection efficacy testing, continental scale monitoring of fungal agricultural pathogen dispersal, among others).

I received my Ph.D. from the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee in 2015 specifically on Fungal Systematics, Taxonomy, and Evolution focusing on club and coral forming basidiomycetes. In my spare time I am an active volunteer with the North American Mycological Association and other amateur-academic mycological endeavors.