Biographical Info

Steve grew up in Minnesota and attended St. Olaf College in southern Minnesota, where he developed a passion for plant ecology, climate change, and other environmental issues. Following college, he pursued a Ph.D. at Indiana University, where his work focused on the strategies that trees use to cope with drought. He is currently at the University of Utah, where his research explores the trajectory that forests follow after a drought: Do trees die, and if so, why? How do trees recover from drought, and how long does that take?

Dr. Kannenberg led a Science Right Now! workshop as a component of Mission STEMCAP: Climate Change. Dr. Kannenberg presented his research on Juniper trees in Southern Utah and the effects of climate-related drought on juniper health. Students then used tree rings to estimate precipitation levels in the Bear’s Ears area from their birth year until 2019.