Samantha Weintraub-Leff

Dr. Weintraub-Leff is the lead Biogeochemist for the Terrestrial Observation System (TOS). She directly oversees collection protocols and data quality for soil and plant foliage sampling and collaborates with other NEON scientists on litterfall and fine root sampling and data. She is the technical lead for NEON data products that measure soil and vegetation chemistry and stable isotopes as well as soil nitrogen transformations. Samantha works closely with colleagues to integrate sampling efforts with the NEON Airborne Observation Platform (in the case of sun-lit foliage sampling) and microbial measurements (in the case of soil sampling).

Samantha’s research focus is on carbon and nutrient cycling in plants and soils. She has several active research projects investigating macrosystem-scale patterns of soil organic matter composition, spatial distribution, and response to global change drivers like nitrogen deposition and land cover change. She has worked in diverse ecosystems, from tropical rainforests to high mountains and urban landscapes, and has strong experience using light stable isotopes to reveal new ecological insights into carbon, nutrient, and water cycling. She received her B.S. from the University of California Berkeley, her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Utah before joining NEON.

To contact staff, please use the Contact Us form. Learn more about staff research at ResearchGate!