Denise Finney
When it comes to soil, there’s a whole unseen world beneath us, and Associate Professor of Biology Denise Finney is working to not only unearth more information, but also develop ways to better communicate about it.
In the field, specifically the Robert and Shurley Knaefler Whittaker Environmental Research Station (WERS), two grant-funded agricultural research projects focusing on carbon and nitrogen aimed to empower farmers with data. Meanwhile in the lab—inspired by artists at Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Environmental Education Center—her students created “tempestries,” woven temperature tapestries that show climate-change temperature data over time.
“As scientists, we are trained to speak in charts and graphs, but we must be able to communicate outside of the field of science. The students used art as a way of knowing,” Finney said.
