Rate My Professor Vanessa Louche

Vanessa L. Lougheed is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), where she also holds appointments in Environmental Science and Engineering, Bioinformatics, Environmental Science in the College of Science, the Center for Environmental Resource Management, and Cyber-Share. She has served as Assistant Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences since 2014. Lougheed earned her Ph.D. in Biology from McMaster University in 2001 and her B.Sc. in Biology from the same institution in 1994. She joined UTEP as Assistant Professor in 2005, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011, and to Professor thereafter. Prior roles include Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Algal Ecology Lab, Department of Zoology, Michigan State University from 2001 to 2004, and Lecturer in the Department of Biology, University of Waterloo in 2001.

Dr. Lougheed's primary research area is aquatic ecosystem ecology, with a focus on nutrient cycling, primary production, biodiversity, and remote sensing in extreme wetland environments of the Arctic and the Chihuahuan Desert. She has obtained funding from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, USAID, and other sources for projects including Arctic limnology, wetland restoration, environmental monitoring in the Rio Grande Valley, and educational initiatives such as GK-12 and IPY-ROAM. Key publications include "Disappearing Arctic tundra ponds: Fine-scale analysis of surface hydrology in drained thaw lake basins over a 65 year period (1948–2013)" (Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences, 2015), "Rapid nutrient release from permafrost in Arctic aquatic ecosystems" (Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, 2015), "Changes in tundra pond limnology: Re-sampling Alaskan ponds after 40 years" (Ambio, 2011), and "The Long-term Development of Wetland Plant Communities with Water Deliveries in a Created Wetland in the Desert Southwest" (Wetlands, 2025). Her research has been cited over 2,500 times. Honors include Partner of the Year from the Carlos M. Ramirez TecH2O Center (2014) and U.S. Delegate to the International Arctic Science Committee (2010).