Emily Fairfax

Emily Fairfax is an ecohydrologist, beaver researcher, and Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota. She is best known for her research describing how beavers create drought and wildfire resistant patches in the landscape. Fairfax and her research have been featured internationally in numerous written, radio, and television media programs about beavers. 
==Early life and education==
Fairfax double-majored in Chemistry and Physics as an undergraduate at Carleton College, then went on to earn her Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Colorado Boulder. She was awarded a DoD NDSEG Fellowship for her doctoral studies, and completed graduate certificates in Hydrologic Sciences and in College Teaching while at the University of Colorado Boulder. Fairfax says that her interest in science developed at an early age - as a young child she told her that mother that wanted to walk on the rings of Saturn, but to not worry because she’d bring her car-seat to be safe. She was a Girl Scout growing up and spent significant time camping outdoors and leading canoe trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, which she says kindled her interest in environmental science and wetlands in particular. However, she did not seriously think about beavers and their relationship to climate change until she watched the PBS documentary "Leave it to Beavers". 
==Career==
Fairfax is an ecohydrologist, beaver expert, and science communicator. She was an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Resource Management at California State University Channel Islands from 2019-2023. In 2023, she started a new position as an Assistant Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Minnesota and is affiliated with the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory. 
===Research===
Fairfax studies how ecosystem engineering by beavers increases the drought and fire resistance of wetland and riparian ecosystems in North America.Fairfax and this research have been featured in National Geographic, BBC, NPR, PBS, CBS News, ABC News, CBC News, AP News, Scientific American, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times, amongst others. 
Fairfax argues in her research that riverscape restoration and beaver conservation are necessary components of building landscape-scale climate resilience. She has testified before the Oregon State Legislature on the science of beaver-driven climate resilience and her studies are referenced in global, regional, and state-level land management planning documents. Fairfax worked with a team of engineers from Google to build a machine-learning image recognition model called EEAGER (Earth Engine Automated Geospatial Element(s) Recognition) that can identify beaver dams in satellite and aerial imagery, in hopes of expediting the field of beaver research and the implementation of beaver-based restoration projects.
==Notable publications==
* Jordan, C. E.† & Fairfax, E.†. (2022), Beaver: The North American Freshwater Climate Action Plan. WIREs Water. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1592
* Fairfax, E., Clinton, N., Zhu, E., Maiman, S., Shaikh, A., Macfarlane, W., Wheaton, J., Ackerstein, D., Corwin, E. (2023). EEAGER: a neural network for finding beaver complexes in aerial and satellite imagery. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. doi:10.1029/2022JG007196 
Category:Carleton College alumni
Category:University of Colorado Boulder alumni	 
Category:Professors
Category:Researchers
Category:Science communicators