Jeffrey Klopatek

Jeffrey Klopatek is a Professor of Ecology and Environmental Science with the School of Life Sciences. He was previously a Research Ecologist in the Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he also taught at the University of Tennessee. He is a certified Senior Ecologist by the Ecological Society of America and a past two-time Chair of ESAs Board of Professional Certification.

Among his honors was his award as a Senior Fulbright Scholar. Both his teaching and research activities focus on ecosystem and landscape ecology and the methods needed to address ecological topics at these scales. He has conducted research worldwide, ranging from the deserts of Namibia to the glaciers of Antarctica. He and his students have worked on a wide scale of projects, ranging from microbial controls on decomposition to ecosystem carbon flux to the analysis of satellite images for determining landscape changes. Research has taken place in a myriad of ecosystems: wetlands, extreme deserts, old-growth temperate rain forests, deciduous forests, shrublands, urban and agricultural systems. Most recently he has branched out into analysis of sustainable food systems.

Klopatek's research emphasis is currently divided into two primary areas: 1) the prediction of potential global change effects on ecosystems and their below- and above ground structures and processes, and 2) the ecology of food. He has been a visiting scientist at EPA working on the development of ecological indicators. He has extensive consulting experience, mostly in wetland ecology and ecosystems but also including a myriad of topics from siting of energy facilities to food sustainability. Currently he holds an Adjunct Professorship with the Culinary Institute of America. His past outside activities include elected chairman of a planning and zoning commission to a nuclear missile battery commander.