Dr. Tyson Ochsner

Oklahoma NSF EPSCoR Researchers:
Exploring Socio-Ecological Systems' Adaptation to Climate Variability

Dr. Tyson Ochsner is a native of Chattanooga, Oklahoma. He earned a B.S. in Environmental Science at OSU in 1998. He then studied Soil Science and Water Resources at Iowa State University earning a M.S. in 2000 and a Ph.D. in 2003. From 2003 through 2008, he worked as a soil scientist for the USDA Agricultural Research Service in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

The mission of Dr. Ochsner’s soil physics research and teaching program is to help people better understand and appreciate the soil, the soil water balance, and the surface energy balance so that we can more wisely manage and conserve the land and water with which we have been entrusted.

Dr. Ochsner's work on the Oklahoma NSF EPSCoR research project addresses three research objectives, including:

1. Establishment of a first-of-its-kind, statewide, socio-ecological observatory;
2. Development of a fully integrated socio-ecological modeling and prediction system that is designed to integrate qualitative and quantitative approaches and to systematically examine insights from both disciplinary and integrated perspectives;
3. Development of a pilot decision-support system that provides researchers, educators and practitioners with data, models, tools and scenarios that are needed to explore and understand the social and ecological impacts of management and policy decisions. 

Pictured (above/right): Dr. Tyson Ochsner