Dr. Wood is a soil scientist in the Global Lands team. He is working to develop cutting-edge science to support soil activities across The Nature Conservancy. Steve has a highly interdisciplinary background, with degrees in ecology, economics, and philosophy. His specific topical expertise is in soil and ecosystem ecology, sustainable agriculture, sustainability science, and statistical modeling. Steve’s past geographical focus was mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, though his work at the Conservancy is global in scope.
Before joining The Nature Conservancy, Steve was a NatureNet Science Fellow mentored by Jon Fisher at TNC and Mark Bradford at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His fellowship focused on measuring the impact of Conservancy activities on different types of soil carbon in working lands around the world. He specifically worked in row crop agriculture and rangeland systems ranging from the Sacramento River Delta of California to arid rangelands in northern Kenya.
Steve is the lead on a SNAPP working group to build quantitative targets for managing soils for conservation goals. The group specifically focuses on synthesizing data to determine the impact of soil carbon changes on environmental and agronomic outcomes in Midwest agriculture and California rangelands.
Steve has a PhD from the Department of Ecology, Evolution & Environmental Biology at Columbia University where he worked with Shahid Naeem and Chery Palm and was part of the Agriculture and Food Security Center at The Earth Institute. He also has a Masters from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and a Bachelors in Philosophy from The George Washington University. He holds an appointment as an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. More information on Steve’s research can be found at his website: http://www.stephenandrewwood.com
