It’s not every day you sit down for coffee and leave thinking about methane, microbes, and music in the same breath. But that’s exactly what happened during one of Emory Climate Hub’s Coffee Hour sessions, where we had the chance to chat with Dana Kahn, a climate scientist, advocate, and yes, a songwriter with a tune inspired by soil.
Dana recently completed her Master’s degree at Emory University’s Laney Graduate School, where her thesis work focused on forest ecosystems and their role in regulating methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
The heart of Dana’s research lies in understanding how northern hardwood transitional forest soils in the Northeastern U.S. interact with methane, specifically, whether they absorb this greenhouse gas (acting as a sink) or release it into the atmosphere (acting as a source). Her work took her to the Howland Research Forest in central Maine, where she conducted fieldwork over two summers and continued with extensive lab analysis using soil biogeochemical tests such as the isotope pool dilution method to quantify gross methane production and consumption.
This research is part of a long-term ecological study and is significant because methane dynamics in forest ecosystems remain poorly understood compared to carbon dioxide. Her findings? Forests aren’t just pretty - they're complex methane managers. And studying their role could help us better understand climate feedback loops that influence everything from climate change to policy decisions to ecosystem functions.
What stood out during the session was not just the complexity of her methodology, but how she broke it down into accessible concepts, highlighting the invisible but essential role that soil microbes play in global methane cycles.
Beyond her data and lab work, Dana’s career has been defined by a deep commitment to climate advocacy. As an undergraduate, she co-founded Emory’s Climate Reality Project and the Emory Climate Coalition, two student-led initiatives that foster climate action and connectivity across campus. She’s worked with organizations like the Partnership for Southern Equity and Woodwell Climate Research Center and also presented her research at international forums, including the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting.
Her contributions have been recognized through numerous scholarships and awards, including those from the Georgia Association of Environmental Professionals, the Association of Energy Engineers, and the Georgia Brownfield Association. She also earned Honorable Mention for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
AI-generated content may be incorrect.In a memorable turn during the session, Dana introduced “Roots and Channels”, a song she wrote inspired by her research at Howland Forest. As a musician and songwriter, she uses music to translate science into story, capturing the hidden workings of soil and methane in a form that connects emotions with intellect. As part of the Just Energy Academy with the Partnership for Southern Equity, Dana even performed her tune for elementary students at Drew Charter School in Atlanta, sharing an accessible form of science education with kindergarten and 1st graders. It was a reminder that climate science doesn’t have to stay in the lab or the literature, it can move, speak, and even sing.
Dana’s talk was more than a presentation, it was an invitation to see climate work through multiple lenses: empirical, personal, and creative. She showed us how rigorous field science, community-centered advocacy, and artistic expression can coexist and enrich each other. As the semester has now come to an end and Dana begins the next phase of her career, her story reminds us of the value of interdisciplinary voices in climate conversations.
Until next semester, where climate, community, and creativity will no doubt return to the coffee table.