Strategic Research Development
Funding Critical Wildfire Research
Funding wildfire research is important to better understand and mitigate the impacts of these increasingly common events. I plan and implement strategic research initiatives for the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San Jose State University (SJSU). Previous experience in strategic grant development comes from building the centralized five-person Research Development unit within the Division of Research and Innovation at SJSU between 2019 and 2022 and being a Research Development Specialist at UCSC from late 2017 to 2019.
- SJSU Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center
- Built SJSU Research Development unit, 2019–2022
- UCSC Research Development Specialist, 2017–2019
Good science requires good communication to have any larger societal impact. Unfortunately, scientists generally don't focus on explaining what they do, and how important it is, to non-science types. In 2012, I decided to be the unusual scientist who jumped out of research to focus on communication.
Inspired by my love of geology, landscapes, and history, I created a start-up company, Mobile Ranger, that made mobile apps, blogs, and social media content. The goal was to “connect people to places” by telling compelling stories of place with information sourced from local science and history experts.
The guiding philosophy was that when people know the human stories and natural wonders integral to every landscape, they develop a personal connection to it, care more deeply, and have a greater desire towards stewardship of their local places and the planet.
As of late 2016, I am no longer actively creating content for Mobile Ranger but all the great stories are still available via our mobile app and our website.
Carbon Cycle Research
Reading forest carbon through radiocarbon.
My research, from 1997 – 2010, focused on terrestrial carbon cycling, particularly in forests. The residence time of carbon in forest ecosystems depends on how carbon is allocated by plants and the rate of decomposition of plant tissues and their alteration products in soils. By taking advantage of changing atmospheric radiocarbon (14C) concentrations in the atmosphere due to testing of above-ground nuclear weapons in the early 1960s (often referred to as bomb-carbon), the cycling rates of plant tissues and soil carbon on timescales of several years to centuries can be estimated.
Publications
Recent and selected work.
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2026
Understanding how fire impacts soil carbon and nutrient cycling: Toward standardized reporting of fire metrics for the integrated plant-soil system
Gaudinski JB, K Wilkin, J Peña, ME Miller, MS Torn
Earth-Science Reviews 278: 105481
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2010
Measuring and modeling the spectrum of fine-root turnover times in three forests using isotopes, minirhizotrons and the Radix model
Gaudinski JB, MS Torn, WJ Riley, TE Dawson, JD Joslin, H Majdi
Global Biogeochemical Cycles 24, Article Number GB3029
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2009
Fine-root mortality rates in a temperate forest: estimates using radiocarbon data and numerical modeling
Riley WJ, JB Gaudinski, MS Torn, JD Joslin, PJ Hanson
New Phytologist 184(2): 387–398
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2009
Use of stored carbon reserves in growth of temperate tree roots and leaf buds: analyses using radiocarbon measurements and modeling
Gaudinski JB, MS Torn, WJ Riley, C Swanston, SE Trumbore, JD Joslin, H Majdi, TE Dawson, PJ Hanson
Global Change Biology 15(4): 992–1014
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2006
Fine-root turnover patterns and their relationship to root diameter and soil depth in a C-14-labeled hardwood forest
Joslin JD, JB Gaudinski, MS Torn, WJ Riley, PJ Hanson
New Phytologist 172(3): 523–535
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2005
Comparative analysis of cellulose preparation techniques for use with C-13, C-14, and O-18 isotopic measurements
Gaudinski JB, TE Dawson, S Quideau, EAG Schuur, JS Roden, SE Trumbore, DR Sandquist, SW Oh, RE Washylishen
Analytical Chemistry 77(22): 7212–7224
More publications
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2003
The secret lives of roots
Trumbore SE, JB Gaudinski
Science (302): 1344–1345
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2003
Soil carbon storage potential at Walker Branch Watershed, Oak Ridge, TN
Gaudinski JB, SE Trumbore
In: Elwood J (Ed), North American Temperate Deciduous Forest Responses to Changing Precipitation Regimes (Springer-Verlag)
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2002
Quantifying ecosystem-atmosphere carbon exchange with a 14C label, USA
Trumbore SE, JB Gaudinski, PJ Hanson, J Southon
EOS Transactions AGU 83(24): 265–268
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2001
The age of fine-root carbon in three forests of the eastern United States measured by radiocarbon
Gaudinski JB, SE Trumbore, EA Davidson, A Cook, D Markewitz, D Richter
Oecologia 129: 420–429
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2000
Soil carbon cycling in a temperate forest: radiocarbon-based estimates of residence times, sequestration rates and partitioning of fluxes
Gaudinski JB, SE Trumbore, EA Erickson, S Zheng
Biogeochemistry 51: 33–69
Doctoral thesis
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2001
Belowground carbon cycling in three temperate forests of the eastern United States
Gaudinski JB
Doctoral thesis, 306 pp. University of California, Irvine
Contact
Julia.gaudinski@sjsu.edu