Dr. Hurtt is interested in the theory and application of community and ecosystem ecology. His primary approach is to combine mathematics and data to develop models for understanding and predicting the structure and dynamics of ecological systems. He has published on a wide range of topics including: the role of dispersal in the dynamics and structure of plant communities, latitudinal and elevational gradients in biodiversity, and ocean and terrestrial ecosystem models for use in studies of the global carbon cycle and global climate change. Current research is focused on the development and application of mathematical models to address issues such as: the sustainability of land-use practices, the effects of disturbances on ecosystem structure and function, and interactions between the biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.

Louise was born and raised in New Zealand before coming to the USA for graduate school. After graduating with her Ph.D. from Cornell University, she worked for a mathematical software company for a few years before deciding to return to an academic research environment. She has a broad range of experiences using mathematical and computational methods to study interesting problems such as the foraging behavior of dairy cows, turbulent flows over aircraft wings, nutrient transport in bioreactors, and, most recently, human intereactions with the Earth System. Her current focus is the preparation of a harmonized set of global land-use transitions for the next IPCC Assessment, using Integrated Assessment Model implementations of several Representative Concentration Pathways (see luh.unh.edu for more info).