Bio:

Tomasz Falkowski is an applied ecologist studying restoration through a socioecological lens to better understand how we can restore reciprocal relationships between ecological and human communities, for the benefit of both.  He earned an M.S. in Environmental Resources Engineering and Ph.D. in Environmental Forest Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry before completing two postdoctoral appointments at Cornell University.  His research spans diverse ecosystems, disciplines, and cultures, including projects investigating socioeconomic barriers to biochar adoption among land managers in northern New Mexico, quantifying the ability of herbaceous cover crops to restore soil health in high severity burn scars, and studying the ecocultural impacts of shifting swidden management practices in traditional milpa agroforestry in Chiapas, Mexico, among others. Most of these studies highlight how traditional and community-based ecosystem management not only enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions but also sustain local communities over generations without degrading the environment.

In the Honors College, Tomek teaches interdisciplinary courses incorporating the biophysical and social sciences, thereby providing students with diverse perspectives on issues that cross scales from the global to the local.  Many of his courses include field trips introducing students to real-world examples of sustainable socioecological management and hands-on activities allowing students to learn for themselves through the process of scientific inquiry.

Research Interest:

Ecological restoration, agroecology, socioecological systems, traditional ecological knowledge, tropical agroforestry, biochar