Isabella A. Oleksy

Isabella A. Oleksy is an Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder and leads the Mountain Limnology Lab. Her research focuses on global environmental change impacts on aquatic ecosystems in mountainous regions, including nitrogen deposition, wildfire effects, and ice phenology shifts.

• PhD in Ecology from Colorado State University (2019)
• BS in Environmental Science from University of New Hampshire (2012)

Her work integrates limnology, biogeochemistry, and data science to address climate change effects on lakes. Recent projects examine anoxia feedbacks in temperate lakes, wildfire smoke impacts, and snowfall-climate interactions in high-elevation lakes. She has secured significant NSF grants for alpine lake algae studies and workforce development programs.

Her 2024 publications span watershed responses to climate change, trophic state trends, and data science applications in aquatic research. Awards include USGS and NSF-IGERT fellowships, emphasizing postdoctoral training and open science initiatives.

• Postdoctoral consortia for career advancement
• National-scale remotely sensed lake monitoring
• Deoxygenation feedbacks in temperate lakes
• Collaborative aquatic data science workshops

She mentors PhD students and postdocs while collaborating with institutions across North America. Her lab employs innovative field methods, including pack mules for remote ecosystem sampling.