Kimberly Epps

(1969-2011) Dr. Epps was a biogeochemist whose introduction to the realm of soil fertility and P cycling in tropical soils came during service in the Peace Corps as an agroforestry volunteer in Cameroon, Central Africa. While evangelizing the merits of N-fixing trees and shrubs, she discovered farmers' greater concern over P fertility. She entered the programs of International Agricultural Development and Soil Science at the University of California in Davis, where her master's research entailed ranking the susceptibility of freshwater marshes in Belize to phosphorus loading by sediment type. Her doctoral work at the University of Florida centered on exploring the relationship between the chemical diversity of tree species and litter decomposition in the context of the highly diverse Atlantic Forest of Bahia, Brazil. Her most recent work explored several new topics including relating the molecular sequence of carbon transformation of degrading organic matter to microbial activity, as well as contrasting the P acquisition strategies of invasive and native N-fixing and non-fixing species in highly P-limiting environments.