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Suchy, Amanda
Research Assistant Professor
FACULTY
Biography
Dr. Amanda Suchy is an ecosystem ecologist whose research examines nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, and emerging contaminants in wetlands, streams, and urban landscapes. She approaches watersheds as social–ecological systems, and her work is guided by the broad question: How do water, nutrients, and emerging contaminants, such as microplastics, move through and become transformed within human-impacted ecosystems?
Dr. Suchy earned her Ph.D. in Biology from Arizona State University and then completed a postdoctoral position at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. She has been at CMU since 2021, serving first as a postdoctoral researcher and, most recently, as a Research Assistant Professor in the Institute for Great Lakes Research Biology Department. She now joins the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences as an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science.
More about Amanda Suchy
Publications & Presentations
Education
B.A., University of Utah, Film Studies, 2005
B.S., University of Utah, Biology, 2009
Ph.D., Arizona State University, Biology, 2016
Post Doctoral Researcher, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and City University of New York, 2017-2020
Research Interests
I am an urban and aquatic ecologist interested in exploring the bidirectional relationship between people and the environment. My research frames watersheds as social ecological systems and is motivated by the broad question:
“How do water, nutrients and emerging contaminants (such as microplastics) move through, and are transformed by, human impacted ecosystems?”
To address this question, it is important that we understand both the bio-geo-physical processes in human impacted ecosystems and how human behavior impacts the environment. Additionally, it is necessary to consider how the environment can act as a driver and motivator of human behavior. In my lab, we explore these complex relationships in a variety of environments from coastal wetlands to suburban lawns and urban ponds. My approach utilizes a mix of field and laboratory studies, as well as synthesizing existing long-term survey and environmental data.
Ongoing projects in my lab include:
- Drivers of microplastics in Great Lakes coastal wetlands and their effect on nitrogen cycling
- Assessment of wetland ecosystem functions at Shiawassee State Game Area based on different management strategies for waterfowl populations
- Movement and transport of nutrients and microplastics in urban headwaters
- Assessment of people’s environmental attitudes and perceptions using long term data
Courses Taught
- ENS 101: Introduction to Environmental Science
- ENS 313: Introduction to Ecosystem Structure and Function
- ENS 323: Biogeochemical Cycling in the Environment
- GEL 308: Hydrologic Processes