Dr. Elissa R. Levine
Dr. Elissa R. Levine is a Co-PI
in the FED program, and has primary responsibility for the design, testing, and
implementation of the soil models, including overseeing the encapsulation of these
models within the overall modeling framework. She also assists in the continuing
development of the geographic information system (GIS), and in its operation as
a modeling tool. Dr. Levine has been a Soil Scientist in the Biospheric Sciences
Branch since 1986. Her present responsibilities include modeling of soil genesis
processes, and interfacing soil models with other ecological models and remote
sensing. She has been a coinvestigator in the FED project since 1987, and a coinvestigator
on a project and staff scientist for BOREAS. Dr. Levine has also been funded to
participate in the Phase 2 activites within the GLOBE project. Dr. Levine received
her B.S. degree from Kansas State University, and M.S. and Ph.D. from Penn State
in Agronomy (Soil Genesis and Morphology). Her dissertation research involved
the development of a simulation model to assess the affects of acid precipitation
on soil properties. Prior to her employment at NASA, Dr. Levine served as a Resident
Research Associate sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, National Research
Council at NASA/GSFC. She was did post-doctoral work in the Plant and Soils Department
at the University of Connecticut where she designed a data base program to predict
the potential leaching of agricultural pesticides into groundwater based on properties
of southern New England soils. In addition, she managed the Soil Preparation Laboratory
for the U.S. EPA Direct/Delayed Acid Deposition Program in Connecticut. During
her academic and professional career, Dr. Levine has had field soil mapping experience
with the USDA Soil Conservation Service in Kansas and Pennsylvania, through Intercollegiate
Soil Judging Competition (as both competitor and coach), and through private consulting.
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