Ann Thijs

Ann Thijs is an interdisciplinary scientist with a passion for undergraduate education. Ann earned a dual undergraduate degree in Biology and Engineering, and a Masters in Environmental Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in her home country of Belgium. As a postgraduate, she worked in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences on several national and international
biogeochemistry projects. Her work included the development of a monitoring network for soil acidification, desiccation and eutrophication due to nitrogen depositions in wetland ecosystems, as well as phosphorus speciation in different soil types.  Ann moved to Texas and started as an international student in the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior graduate program at UT Austin, where her work shifted from nitrogen and phosphorus to carbon cycling, coupled to the climate system. Ann was awarded a NASA Earth System Science Fellowship for this research. Ann has taught at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, and came back to UT
Austin in 2017 as an Assistant Professor of Instruction. Ann teaches introductory biology (BIO3111C, BIO311D) and Ecology (BIO373). She delights in teaching her students the interconnectedness of the natural world, in evolutionary and ecological time, and to help students in becoming critical and quantitative thinkers.  As an international woman in academia, Ann feels strongly about diversity, equity and inclusion, inside and outside the classroom.