Tara Hudiburg

MOSCOW, Idaho—A multidisciplinary team led by University of Idaho researchers has been granted $15 million to investigate the long-term impact of drought and fire on forest ecosystems. The six-year award comes from the National Science Foundation’s Biology Integration Institutes, which supports diverse and collaborative teams addressing critical biological questions across multiple disciplines through research, education, and training. The funding will establish the EMBER (Embedding Molecular Biology in Ecosystem Research) Institute, uniting researchers from various institutions and backgrounds. This includes molecular and cellular biology experts, organismal physiology, and ecosystem sciences. “We are looking at how stress caused by increasing drought and wildfire affects forest recovery and resilience. By working together, we are not just investigating how trees or microbes respond but how organisms depend on each other to survive,” said Tara Hudiburg, principal investigator for EMBER and professor in U of I’s Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences.