Rebecca Trueman, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
Natural Sciences and Geography
College of Arts & Sciences
Dr. Trueman teaches science courses including Biology in the World Today; Concepts in Chemistry and Biology; Introduction to Sustainability; General Ecology; Regulations of Biological Systems. Focusing on learning experiences outside the traditional classroom setting, Dr. Trueman has taken students to the Field Museum, John G. Shedd Aquarium and Brookfield Zoo. Additionally, she has traveled with students to Biosphere 2, the Grand Canyon and the Sonoran Desert Museum in Arizona. She is also the Independent study advisor for Biology, Natural Science and Earth Science students.
Among her research interests are the effects of global change on terrestrial and riverine ecosystems. She uses both traditional field methods and stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen to understand nutrient cycling and transport in ecosystems.
With the recent addition of a GC/MS (thanks to funding from her successful grant application to the national science foundation), Dr. Trueman and Concordia-Chicago colleagues will investigate pollution and the effect of extreme weather events on pollutant transport in the Des Plaines River and the surrounding forests. Dr. Trueman has studied the effect of elevated CO2 on plants in the Chihuahuan desert, Biosphere 2 Laboratory, soyFACE and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She has been a member of Concordia’s faculty since 2007.
Degrees
- PhD, Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Management certification from Harvard Business School
- Online teaching certification from Concordia University Chicago
- B.S., McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Academic and Professional Highlights
Publications:
- Tekeleab,S., Gala, R.J., Trueman, S., Carlyle (2012) Soil Hydrodynamics and Controls in Prairie Potholes of Central Canada. AREA, Royal Geographical Society. dol: 10.1111/j.1475-4762.2012.01103.x
- “Effective use of GC/MS technology in a Biology course” at the Association of Chicago Colleges Scholarship of Pedagogy Symposium Oct. 15, 2011.
- “Carbon losses in soils previously exposed to elevated atmospheric CO2 in a chaparral ecosystem: Potential implications for a sustained biospheric C sink” (with L. Taneva, M.A. Gonzalez-Meler, W.C. Oechel, H. BassiriRad), Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 2009.
- "Accelerated belowground C cycling in a managed agriforest ecosystem exposed to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations” (with Miguel A. Gonzalez-meler), Global Change Biology, 2005.
- “Plant Respiration and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration: Cellular responses and global significance” (with Miguel A. Gonzalez-meler, Lina Taneva), Annals of Botany, 2004.
Awards:
- Primary Investigator of the National Science Foundation
- Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement Program at CUC
- National Science Foundation Research Ambassador Fellow