Deborah Neher

Dr. Deb Neher  is a soil ecologist that uses population and community ecology approaches to developing biological indicators for environmental monitoring of soil. She brings 35 years of experience as a researcher, educator, and graduate student mentor, teaches courses in soil ecology, compost ecology and management, and professional development. Retired professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont, she led the department for many years until resigning from administration in 2018 to focus on applying her research to help farmers and inform policymakers.

During the past decade, her research focus shifted toward biological communities in compost and their role in disease suppression by natural mechanisms. In 2015, the Soil Ecology section of the Ecological Society of America established an award in her name as the Deborah A. Neher Career Award in honor of her founding the section and serving as its first chairperson. She has published more than 100 peer reviewed articles across 30 journals and 25 book chapters on topics of biological indicators of soil, ecotoxicology and biotechnology risk assessment, climate change and soil biological crusts, plant pathology and sustainable agriculture. During her career, she has given more than 250 research presentations and earned over $11 million in extramural grant funds from National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture, US Department of Energy and US Environmental Protection Agency.