Sunshine A. Van Bael

Sunshine A. Van Bael is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University, part of the School of Science & Engineering. She holds core faculty status and has served as the Burk-Kleinpeter Inc. Professor in Science and Engineering since 2016. Her research focuses on community ecology, microbial interactions, and tropical agriculture, with a particular emphasis on plant-animal-fungal networks and multi-trophic systems.

Van Bael earned her Ph.D. in Animal Biology and Ecology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2003) and a B.A. in Biology from the University of Chicago (1996). She has held adjunct roles at Arizona State University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), where she conducted extensive fieldwork in Central and South America.

Her research investigates topics such as plant-microbial symbioses, tropical reforestation dynamics, and the ecological roles of endophytic fungi. Notable projects include NSF-funded studies on fungal specialization in reforestation contexts and the impact of environmental stress on plant-microbial interactions. She has supervised five dissertations/theses in the past five years.

Van Bael’s awards include NSF grants totaling over $600,000 and recognition as a National Investigator in Panama. Her work spans field sites in Costa Rica, Brazil, Panama, and other tropical regions, leveraging interdisciplinary approaches to address biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.