Margaret Torn, Ph.D.

Margaret S. Torn is a senior scientist at Berkeley Lab, where she is the senior program lead for the Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division.Torn is an ecologist and biogeochemist who studies how carbon cycles through ecosystems and the atmosphere, and is stabilized and stored in organic matter in plants and soils. She leads a team of scientists who use a combination of field experiments, laboratory analysis, and mathematical models to understand better the risks that climate change poses to ecosystems, and how damage to ecosystems may in turn make the climate problem worse. Torn plays a leadership role in several Department of Energy research programs. For the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment (NGEE) program, she is leading integrated observations of ecosystem energy, water, and greenhouse gas fluxes on the North Slope of Alaska, providing data that will be used for assessing the effects of thawing permafrost on climate. She also leads the AmeriFlux Management Program (AMP) for DOE, which serves as the hub for a network of more than 100 observation sites across the Western Hemisphere, providing fundamental data on ecosystem carbon, water, and energy fluxes, data that are used by hundreds of scientists around the world. She heads the Berkeley Lab Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) Scientific Focus Area, and she started the International Soil Experiment Network (ISEN) for research in deep soil warming. Torn grew up hiking the hills of western Marin County and still enjoys working in nature, in field sites that have spanned the globe from the Colorado Rockies to the Hawaiian Islands to Russia. Her research has resulted in more than one hundred publications in scientific journals including both Science and Nature. She is an Adjunct Professor in Energy and Resources at U.C. Berkeley, where she received her PhD in 1994. She has taught classes and seminars on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability, bioenergy, and food systems. Torn started working at Berkeley Lab in 1998. In 2004 she received the Presidential Early Career Award as one of the country’s top young scientists, and in 2008 she received the Secretary of Energy Outstanding Mentor Award. In 2015, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Zurich for her contributions to biogeochemistry.

1. What inspires you to work in STEM?

The role of terrestrial ecosystems in the Earth system is complex and fascinating, as well as critically important for maintaining climate and producing food. Scientific research is needed not only to better understand terrestrial ecosystems but also to be better stewards of our planet. Plus, I love doing field work!

2. What excites you about your work at the Energy Department/Berkeley Lab?

Doing work that contributes to understanding global biogeochemical cycles (like the carbon cycle) and addressing large scale problems of climate change and resource use, and doing it as part of a team of great scientists. This is an exciting time to be working in earth system science because we have better research tools but also more pressing problem

3. How can our country engage more women, girls, and other underrepresented groups in STEM?

First and foremost: Invest in public education, including making teaching a valued and better-compensated profession. Public schools can be the great equalizer in terms of giving everyone an exposure to science and the tools to have fun with it. We also need more fellowship and internship opportunities for underrepresented groups. While Berkeley Lab continues to provide wonderful opportunities to undergraduates, in recent years the number of fellowships offered by federal agencies and foundations for women in graduate and post-graduate positions have declined. This needs to change. Individuals can play a role, too. Scientists can have a big influence by offering mentorship and providing a welcoming and safe environment to all budding scientists. In addition, in many fields, people are penalized for gaps in their CVs. This doesn’t just work against professional women who have had children, but it also discourages women from pursuing these careers in the first place.

4. Do you have tips you would recommend for someone looking to enter your field of work?

It's hard to give general advice because everyone has different skills and backgrounds. But for myself, an interdisciplinary background and variety of experiences have proven very useful. As a whole, Earth and Environmental Sciences need people doing all kinds of work--from rugged field studies in Alaska to computer programming in Berkeley. So, follow your own interests and curiosity: look for opportunities to gain skills and experience, and be ready to forge your own career path that is unlike anyone else's.

5. When you have free time, what are your hobbies?

Walking in Point Reyes and hanging out near the ocean anywhere from the Arctic to the Tropics. Spending time with elephants (and all the animals!) in Africa. Ambling through Medieval hill towns in Europe. Eating interesting food and playing tourist in the Bay Area.