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My research aims to discover new ways that water shapes ecosystem response to climate change and use this knowledge to advance Earth system modeling and climate predictions. Many ecosystems around the world are increasingly affected by climate change. The lifeforms within those ecosystems take up, store, and use carbon for growth and maintenance (e.g., plants that photosynthesize, or microbes that decompose soil carbon). Importantly, their metabolism and function are controlled by water. As a result, the hydrological processes that make water accessible to these lifeforms will not only control ecosystem responses, but also their contributions to climate change, by regulating how much carbon is released back into the atmosphere as greenhouse gasses. I use a range of quantitative methods, including stochastic processes and information theory, to analyze the variability in the climate system and model the nonlinear dynamics within the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum.

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Education

• Ph.D., 2015, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University
• BS, 2010, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University

Professional Background

• NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley (2015-2017)

Currently Teaching Courses

• CEGE 5512: Stochastic Ecohydrology
• CEGE 4501: Hydrologic Design
• CEGE 3102: Uncertainty and Decision Analysis

Honors and Awards

• McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, University of Minnesota, 2021
• NSF CAREER Award, 2021
• Outstanding Scholar Award, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, 2016
• NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2015 
• Outstanding Student Presentation Award, American Geophysical Union, 2013
• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2012

Selected Publications

Jones, M. W., Sebestyen, S. D., Dymond, S. F., Ng, G. C., and Feng, X. (2023). Soil frost controls streamflow generation processes in headwater catchments. Journal of Hydrology, 617, 128801

Potkay, A., and Feng, X. (2022). Do stomata optimize turgor‐driven growth?: A new framework for integrating stomata response with whole‐plant hydraulics and carbon balance. New Phytologist. 238 (2), 506-528

Sloan, B., Thompson, S. E., and Feng, X. (2021). Plant hydraulic transport controls transpiration response to soil water stress. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 25 (8), 4259-4274

Feng, X., Deventer, M. J., Lonchar, R., Ng, G. H. C., Sebestyen, S. D., Roman, D. T. , Griffis, T. J., Millet, D. B., and Kolka, R. K. (2020) "Climate sensitivity of peatland methane emissions mediated by seasonal hydrologic dynamics." Geophysical Research Letters: e2020GL088875.

Feng, X., Ackerly, D. D., Dawson, T. E., Manzoni, S., Skelton, R. P., Vico, G., and Thompson, S. E. (2018). The ecohydrological context of drought and classification of plant responses. Ecology letters, 21(11), 1723-1736.

Porporato, A., Feng, X., Manzoni, S., Mau, Y., Parolari, A. and Vico, G. (2015). Ecohydrological modeling in agroecosystems: Examples and challenges. Water Resources Research, 51(7), 5081-5099. doi:10.1002/2015WR017289.

Feng, X., Porporato, A., and Rodriguez-Iturbe, I. (2015). Stochastic soil water balance under seasonal climates. Proceedings of the Royal Society A. doi:10.1098/rspa.2014.0623.

Feng, X., Porporato, A., and Rodriguez-Iturbe, I. (2013). Changes in rainfall seasonality in the tropics. Nature Climate Change, 3, 811-815. doi:10.1038/nclimate1907.

*View Feng's full publication list on Google Scholar.