- 2004 Yale Jennifer K. Balch is an American scientist best known for her work involving the Earth Lab Project at University of Colorado Boulder, primarily researches the relationship between fire and the Amazon.
[citation needed] Balch was previously an associate professor of geography at Pennsylvania State University from 2012–2014, before accepting her current position.
[3] This data is then utilized in several different ways: to publish papers, provide education about climate change, foster relationships with public and private sectors, and eventually train capable scientists.
She has authored papers such as The Susceptibility of Southeastern Amazon Forests to Fire: Insights from a Large-Scale Burn Experiment[4] and Pattern and process: Fire-initiated grass invasion at Amazon transitional forest edges,[5] and has been interviewed for popular press articles by The New York Times,[6] CPR News,[7] and the Daily Camera.
[10] Balch was named an Ecological Society of America (ESA) Early Career Fellow (2016-2020) for her work in fire risk, prevention, and ramifications of wildfires in temperate and tropical ecosystems.
[11] In 2017, Balch, Bethany A. Bradley, John T. Abatzogloue, Chelsea Nagya, Emily J. Fuscod, and Adam L. Mahood published a paper which examined humans' role in the recent increase in wildfires in the past few decades.