Chunmeng is a PhD student in the ecology, evolution, environment, and society (EEES) program. Her poster, Climate Change Increases the Reliance of U.S. Corn on Irrigation, recently won an award at the Guarini Poster Session.
Where did you grow up, and where did you study as an undergraduate? Was there a class, a mentor, or a moment there that first sparked your scientific curiosity?
I grew up in Shandong, a northern coastal province of China where half the land stretches toward the Pacific Ocean. As an undergraduate, I majored in plant science and technology at Huazhong Agricultural University, and I also had a short exchange at the University of California, Davis.
During my undergraduate studies, the turning point for me was joining the Crop Modeling and Econometrics group, which collaborates with the International Food Policy Research Institute. There, I was drawn into sustainable food system research at the national and global scale! Working with crop models, spatial analysis, remote sensing, and econometrics, I became interested in the big-picture, dynamic, and changing climate-agricultural system that connects to the lives of billions of people!
What graduate program are you in at Dartmouth, and what’s a question your field is working to answer right now?
I’m currently a PhD student in the ecology, evolution, environment, and society program (EEES), and I’m affiliated with the geography department at Dartmouth.
The big question our field is working to answer is how climate change is affecting agricultural systems, and how we can help them adapt. Rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and more frequent extreme events are already reshaping how and where we can grow crops, and how much we can produce. The overall goal is to keep food systems productive and resilient in a changing world.
What is your area of research? What inspired you to pursue this area?
My research focuses on climate-water-agriculture interactions, currently studying how climate change will reshape the role of irrigation in sustaining future food production.
What initially inspired me to pursue this area was a memorable two-year experience on the student farm during my undergraduate years. We grew a variety of plants, and along the way we went through droughts, heat waves, and even watermelon thefts, watching harvests crumble under pressure again and again. Seeing how vulnerable food production can be sparked a deep concern in me about food security. Since then, the hope of helping protect the meals of people has filled me with energy and purpose every single day!
Your poster won recognition at the Guarini School Poster Session. What was the hardest thing to communicate, visually or conceptually, and how did you solve it?
I feel really honored to receive this award! The hardest part in preparing the poster was clearly communicating the concepts, metrics, and methods to a general audience, since many of them come from very different research backgrounds. To solve this, I tried to use more intuitive language to paint the big picture, rather than relying on technical jargon. I also used large-scale spatial maps to visualize the results, which allowed me to directly show the hotspot regions and walk the audience through what is projected to happen under climate change. This visual approach really helped people quickly grasp both the scale of the problem and the key message of my research.
Imagine your research findings reached a non-specialist audience, such as a city council, a patient community, or the general public. What would you most want them to understand?
I would most want the general public to understand that our agricultural production is becoming increasingly vulnerable under intensifying climate change and water scarcity. Yet, we still have a limited understanding of these threats, which makes it hard to design effective adaptation strategies. That’s why continuous research, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and real-world testing of solutions are so important for sustaining food security. This issue truly connects to everyone in the world!
What brought you to Dartmouth specifically? Has anything about the experience surprised you?
It was a combination of things! Dartmouth is excellent, with a tight-knit community and wonderful resources for students. I love this small town, and I think the natural, quiet environment here is perfect for diving deep into my research. Just like Dartmouth’s motto, “Vox Clamantis in Deserto,” our research is our voice in the wilderness for an uncertain, changing future. And we are trying to amplify our voices and make a difference for a better world! Another important factor was my advisor, Professor Jonathan Winter, who is incredibly supportive, and whose expertise was the primary reason that drew me here. And one last small but fun reason — green is my favorite color, and I hope to wear Dartmouth green on my PhD regalia!
Which resources, career support programs, or professional development opportunities at Dartmouth have been most valuable to you, and how have they impacted your experience?
Dartmouth offers so many wonderful resources for graduate students. It’s tough to list them all, but the most valuable for me are the high-performance computing resources, the travel funding that has supported me in attending conferences, and the Dartmouth Libraries. I’ve also really valued the wide range of seminars and workshops on different research fields, technical tools, and career development. I truly feel well-supported here, both in my research and in planning my future career.
Is there a resource or program that made a real difference in your development, and what would you tell a first-year student who hasn’t discovered it yet?
The EEES program is a very supportive community with an interdisciplinary nature, and we have weekly seminars that have really helped me practice my communication skills. They’ve also helped me step outside my research area, learn from excellent faculty, staff, and fellow students, and gain exposure to different perspectives, which has been incredibly valuable. For first-year students, I would encourage them to attend Guarini events, both academic and non-academic. You never know which conversation or workshop might spark a new idea or connection that shapes your PhD journey!
