Maria Park

Background & Expertise

Maria Park is a postdoctoral fellow with the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center at the Institute on the Environment. She is committed to helping people sustainably steward the land and water to protect biodiversity and support the resilience of our social-ecological systems. At IonE, Park is working to build bridges between people and create products that can inform successful climate adaptation practices in Midwest ecosystems.

Park's research practice spans disciplines of ecology, plant physiology, ecohydrology and socially engaged art. She has studied the processes underlying relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in forests using methods including remote sensing, microclimate sensors, soil analyses, plant hydraulic measurements and statistical modeling. Park is part of the Backyard Phenology project, which brings artists, scientists, and the public together to share stories of climate and environmental changes. She is also associated with the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory where she studies the relationships between environmental variables and ecosystem hydraulic diversity. Park holds a PhD in ecology, evolution and behavior from the University of Minnesota and a BA in integrative biology from Harvard University.

In her free time, Park enjoys being in nature, going on hikes, making art and music with friends and trying new foods.