2020 was certainly a year like no other. With the combination of the global pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and the US election, there has been a lot of rethinking of many of the things we might have taken for granted, of course mixed with hope for the future.

The pandemic dramatically changed how we do things in lab, with lab members now rarely seeing each other day-to-day as we keep occupancy at a minimum. We donated all the relevant lab supplies we could at the start of the pandemic. A number of our projects were delayed or altered, as we all started working from home a lot more. I’ve been grateful for the resilience of everyone in the lab, with some having it harder than others, but none of us has been unaffected. I think we all miss our colleagues a lot, and are looking forward to being able to spend time together in person again.

There were three big changes to our lab membership this year, as well. Dr. Michael Braus defended his Ph.D. in the summer – congratulations to Mike! He did an excellent job in his defence, which took place in a format – online – that I am sure none of us had ever expected. Dr. Jacob Price finished his postdoc here, and has moved on to a postdoctoral position at the Stroud Water Research Center – congrats to Jake as well. And, finally, Jamie Woolet, our former lab manager/technician and the very first member to join our lab, back in summer of 2016, has moved to Colorado to start an MS at CSU – congratulations to Jamie! At the same time, we’re delighted to welcome Miranda Sikora, who is taking Jamie’s position. She has already been instrumental in keeping our lab running this fall semester.

There are a number of other congratulations to offer – Jaimie West was awarded the Louis and Elsa Thomsen Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship, and also published a paper derived from her ON Allen Small Grant research. Nayela Zeba was accepted into the Marine Biological Laboratory’s Microbial Diversity summer program – a truly special course (delayed to next year due to the pandemic). We were also fortunate to receive a new grant from the DOE, building on Dana Johnson‘s research on wildfire effects on soil microbes and C cycling, which will include a collaboration with Dr. Ben Sulman at Oak Ridge National Lab. We’ve also been lucky to have three undergraduate students working with us this year – Eli, Judith, and Teresita, advised by Dr. Tim Berry, Miranda, and Jamie, who have made heroic efforts to help us keep research experiences available to undergraduate students despite the pandemic.

I would be remiss not to welcome also our new colleague, Dr. Zac Freedman! He is joining our department as a new assistant professor in Environmental Microbial Ecology and Sustainability and we’re happy to be neighbours with his lab on the second floor of the Annex.

The last piece of news is that my tenure case is proceeding through the university system. It went out for letters this fall, and our department voted to send it along to the divisional committee earlier this month. It’s been a really wonderful five years in the Department of Soil Science so far, and I am grateful to my colleagues for making UW-Madison such a welcoming and supportive place, and to my lab for everything we’ve been able to achieve over the past five years. Fingers crossed for the next step!