Meet the People
Grace S. Brush, PhD
Professor,
Geography and Environmental Engineering, JHU
A pioneer in her field, Grace Brush untangles the threads of the ecological history of the Chesapeake Bay. An area’s cultural, economic, and political history can all be unveiled just by looking at dirt, as Brush has discovered. Sediment—consisting of pollen grains, seeds, charcoal particles and diatom skeletons—offer hints to an area’s vegetation and climate conditions. By examining materials preserved in the sediment, Brush expects to find traces of the region’s history. Unlike much ecological research, her present work focuses on the densely populated Baltimore urban and suburban areas. Instead of studying traditional pristine conditions, Brush's revolutionary approach takes into account the impact of humans on the environment, particularly their use of finite resources. "We are beginning to think of interrelations between people and nature and how each influences the other," says Dr. Brush. "Similar to microchips that contain a plethora of information, these specimens provide clues on how the region evolved into a metropolitan area." Dr.Brush was featured in the February 2004 issue of Johns Hopkins Magazine.
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