## **Leila Maria Wahab, PhD** Postdoctoral Associate Yale University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department [Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WoutIc0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra)| [ORCiD](https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0002-9997-1987) --- ## **Education** **PhD  Biogeochemistry**  (2024) Environmental Systems Graduate Group, University of California - Merced Committee: Dr. Claire Lukens, Dr. Sora Kim, Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, and Dr. Teamrat Ghezzehei Title: Changing precipitation dynamics and its impacts on soil carbon stock and chemistry in Mediterranean Grasslands **BS Geology (2018)** Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Science Department, Rice University Concentration: Geochemistry ## **Honors and Awards** Labor & Automation in California Agriculture Graduate Research Fellowship  (2024) Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship – Honorable Mention  (2023) Department of Energy Graduate Student Research Program Awardee  (2022) U.S Carbon Program Leadership Award  (2022) Sigma Xi Grants in Aid of Research Recipient  (2019) Mathias Grant Recipient (2019) Summer Bridge Participant  (2018)                                                                       Distinction in Research and Creative Work - Rice University (2018) Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship (2018) Mellon Mays Fellowship (2016)  Rice Questbridge Scholar  (2014)                                                    Sustaining Excellence in Research Scholar  (2014)                                                    ## **Professional Appointments** **Postdoctoral Associate**, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University (2025 - Present) **Labor and Automation in California Agriculture Graduate Fellow**, Merced, (2024) **DOE Office of Science Fellow**, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2022-2023) **Graduate Teaching Assistant**, Introduction to Earth Science (Spring 2021, Spring 2022) **Graduate Teaching Assistant**, Soil science Laboratory (Fall 2020, Fall 2021) **NASA Student Airborne Research Program Participant**, UC Irvine (Summer 2017) **Critical Zone Observatory Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Participant**, Penn State (2016) **Undergraduate Teaching Assistant**, Introductory Scientific Research Challenges, Rice University (2016-2018) **Student Researcher**, Dr. Caroline Masiello’s Biogeochemistry Lab, Rice University (2015-2018) ## **Peer Reviewed Publications** K.J. Min, Y. Yang, **L.M. Wahab**, S. Woo, M. Oh, T. Ghezzehei, A.A. Berhe (2025), Precipitation Disruption: when the rhythm of the rain throws soil organic matter off-beat, New Phytologist, *submitted* **L.M. Wahab,** S.L. Kim, A.A. Berhe (2025), Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics in Subsoils After 20 years of Added Precipitation in a Mediterranean Grassland, EGU Biogeosciences, *accepted* **L.M. Wahab,** S.S. Chacon, S.L. Kim, A.A. Berhe (2024), Organic Matter Dynamics at Depth Across a Precipitation Gradient of California Grasslands, Springer Biogeochemistry S.L. Colunga, **L.M. Wahab**, A.F. Cabo, E. Pereira (2024), Carbon sequestration through Conservation Tillage in Sandy Soils of Arid and Semi-Arid Climates: A Meta-Analysis, Soil &Tillage research Longbottom, T., **Wahab, L**., Min, K., Jurusik, A.... (2022). What’s Soil Got to Do with Climate Change? _GSA Today_, https://doi.org/10.1130/gsatg519a.1 Liu, Z., B. Dugan, C. A. Masiello, **L. M. Wahab,** H. M. Gonnermann, and J. A. Nittrouer (2017), Effect of Freeze-Thaw Cycles on the Grain Size of Biochar, _PLoS One_ ## **Presentations and Invited Lectures** **Wahab, L.M,** Kim, S.L.  (2023, October) _The Effects of 20 years of precipitation manipulation on a California Grassland_ – Talk at the Soil Science Society of America Meeting– St. Louis, Missouri **Wahab, L.M,** Kim, S.L. (2023, August) _The Effects of 20 years of precipitation manipulation on a California Grassland_– Talk at the Ecological Society of America Meeting – Portland, Oregon **Wahab, L.M** (2022, November) _Aridification of Grasslands – Implications for soil C, soil N, and plant diversity_ – Invited talk to the California Native Grasslands Association – Remote **Wahab, L.M,** Kim, S.L. (2022, August) _Aridification of Grasslands – Implications for soil C, soil N, and plant diversity_ – Poster presentation presented at the Ecological Society of America – Montreal, Quebec **Wahab, L.M,** Kim, S.L. (2022, June) _Variations in organic matter dynamics across a precipitation gradient of Mediterranean grasslands_ – Poster presentation presented at the Symposium for Soil Organic Matter – Seoul, South Korea **Wahab, L.M.** (2021, March) Presentation to the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Northern California Chapter—Merced, California **Wahab, L.M.,** David Miller, Dar Roberts (2017, December) _Understanding Drought Impacted Soils in the San Joaquin Valley through Remote Sensing,_ Poster Presentation at the American Geophysical Union Conference—New Orleans, Louisiana. **Wahab, L.M.,** David Miller, Dar Roberts (2017, December) _Understanding Drought Impacted Soils in the San Joaquin Valley through Remote Sensing,_ Poster presentation at Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Southeastern Regional Conference—Austin, Texas. **Wahab, L.M.,** B. Hoagland, T. Russo, C. Schmidt (2016, November) _Understanding Nitrogen Removal Pathways through Mesocosm Incubation._ Research Presentation presented at Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Southeastern Regional Conference—Atlanta, Georgia. **Wahab, L.M..,** B. Hoagland, T. Russo, C. Schmidt (2016, November) _Understanding Nitrogen Removal Pathways through Mesocosm Incubation._ Research Presentation presented at Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium in Earth Sciences—Houston, Texas. **Wahab, L.M..,** B. Hoagland, T. Russo, C. Schmidt (2016, August) _Understanding Nitrogen Removal Pathways through Mesocosm Incubation._ Poster presentation at the annual conference for the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science (CUAHSI)—Shepherdstown, West Virginia. ## **Datasets** **Wahab, Leila**; Chacon, Stephany; Kim, Sora; Berhe, Asmeret (2024). Regional differences in soil stable isotopes and vibrational features at depth in three California Grasslands [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.6071/M3310B ## **Professional Training** **Planning Your Teaching-as-Research Project**, Yale University (2025) **An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching**, Yale University (2025) **Advanced Pedagogy – Graduate and Postdoc Teacher Training**, University of California -Merced (2022) **Evidence Based Teaching Practice**, University of California Merced (2021) **Anti-Racist Pedagogy Seminar Series**, University of California Merced, (2020-2021) **Fieldwork Toolkit Leadership Training**, University of California Riverside (2021) ## **Professional Affiliations** Soil Science Society of America (2018 - Present)  American Geophysical Union (2017 - Present) Ecological Society of America January (2022 - Present) California Native Grasslands Association (2020) Sigma Xi Fall (2019)   ## **Synergistic Activity & Service** **Mentor for the Boosting Representation of African Americans in Geosciences (BRAAG) Program**, University of California - Merced (Summer 2022) **Vice-president of Radiobio**, University of California - Merced (2021-2022) **Mentor for the Summer Bridge Program**, University of California - Merced (Summer 2021) **Secretary of Radiobio**, University of California - Merced (2020-2021) ## **Computer Skills** **Programming**: Proficient in Python, Jupyter Notebook, Matlab, and R **Applications**: Proficient in Microsoft Suite, ENVI, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Affinity Designer, and Procreate for visual communication