Prior to Texas State, Dr. Schwinning has served as a professor at the University of Arizona as well as a postdoctoral scholar for Columbia University's Biosphere 2 project. Dr. Schwinning received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Göttingen in Germany, her M.S. In Plant Physiology at the University of California, Davis, and her Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Arizona. In addition to teaching and conducting research, Dr. Schwinning also serves as an Associate Editor for Oecologia and the Journal of Ecology. Dr. Scwinning has over 45 publications including ones in Nature, Functional Ecology, and Bioscience. She is the recipient of the John L. Harper Young Investigator Prize for a paper published in the Journal of Ecology, British Ecological Society.