Dr. Anna Trugman specializes in dynamic vegetation modeling, ecophysiology, and vegetation data science, all with a strong focus on how vegetation is impacted by, and impacts, climate change. She uses a hierarchy of mechanistic models to investigate a suite of processes that are poorly represented in current Earth system models. Much of our understanding of the ecological impacts of climate change, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) fertilization, increased temperatures, and changing vapor pressure deficits, is dependent on models. She tackles critical uncertainties in these models through the development of mechanistic representations of plant function that better fit ecological theory and refine the complex interactions between components of the Earth system. Her work is informed by extensive observational data, which she strategically uses to improve model representations. She delves deeply into the physiology of plant hydraulics, and its representation. She found that in nine common Earth system models, uncertainty in parameterization of plant water stress based on soil moisture represented a large, uncertain component in the carbon cycle comparable in magnitude to total annual gross primary production. To address this model uncertainty, she developed a new theory that better accounts for observed patterns in drought-induced tree mortality, in which catastrophic mortality may lag the initial drought by as much as a decade. Working with an extensive plant physiological trait database and forest inventory data, she could explain the observed shifts in plant communities toward more drought tolerant traits. Her work has greatly improved our understanding of linkages between drought, vegetation health, and mortality, which is leading to improvements in the next generation of Earth system models and predictions of how climate change will alter the composition of future forests. For these reasons, she is well deserving of the AGU Global Environmental Change Early Career Award. —Dar Roberts and Oliver Chadwick, Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara

Thank you, Dar and Oliver, for nominating me and for your continual support. I am honored to receive the Global Environmental Change Early Career Award. This award would not have been possible without members of my research group, collaborators, research mentors, and the support of my department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I am fortunate to have been mentored, inspired, and supported by many people in my scientific career, starting with my parents. In particular, that I had to look no further than my mother to see a strong female scientist role model was truly a gift that provided me with an emboldened perspective of women in science and engineering from a very young age. Bill Anderegg has provided me with extensive mentorship and support since graduate school and greatly influenced not only my scientific approach, but also my writing and communication style. I am grateful to Stephen Pacala, David Medvigy, Kelly Caylor, Dar Roberts, and Jennifer King for their mentorship at key stages in my career thus far. My colleagues Leander Anderegg, Holly Moeller, and Megan Bartlett inspire me to be a better scientist and mentor every day. I have also had the privilege to collaborate with amazing graduate students and postdocs, including Greg Quetin, Kris Daum, Jean Allen, Evan Margiotta, Chris Kibler, Conor McMahon, and Justin Mathias. Finally, I want to thank my husband, Curt, for his love and support. —Anna T. Trugman, University of California, Santa Barbara