A broadly trained earth scientist, Joost van Haren has researched topics from 40km deep in the earth’s crust (BSc Utrecht University and MSc Yale University) to soil-plant-atmosphere interactions (PhD University of Arizona). Joost came to Arizona in 1995 to run the analytical facilities at Biosphere 2. For his PhD. he investigated the influence of plant species on the production of greenhouse gases by soil bacteria in highly diverse tropical forests of Brazil. Currently, Joost is an assistant research professor at UofA’s Biosphere 2, where he investigates carbon uptake by weathering of basalt in the Landscape Evolution Observatory and drought effects on carbon cycling rates in the tropical rainforest. He teaches two classes in the Honors College where he is one of the Interdisciplinary Faculty members. He also runs an internship for Honors students at Biosphere 2.