Diego Riveros-Iregui has been awarded a 2022-2023 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Ecuador to investigate the coupling of greenhouse gas emissions, hydrologic dynamics, and the ecology of tropical alpine environments of the Northern Andes. The award will allow Riveros-Iregui to spend time at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), working with local scientists on the effects of climate change on fluxes of water, energy, and nutrients across watersheds of the Andes Mountains. This region is the most biodiverse region in the world and contains some of the highest soil carbon stocks per unit area on Earth, comparable only to permafrost environments in high latitudes. His team has been conducting collaborative field research in Ecuador since 2014.
The Fulbright Program is the largest and most diverse international educational exchange program and is devoted to increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. It is made possible through funds appropriated annually by the U.S. Congress and, in many cases, by contributions from partner countries and private parties. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Program sends American artists, students, faculty, and professionals abroad to lecture and/or conduct research. Since its inception in 1946, more than 400,000 scholars have participated in this program.
For more information on Dr. Riveros-Iregui’s research, visit the Carbonshed Lab’s website: https://diegori.web.unc.edu
Photo Credit: Alyssa LaFaro