John M. Zobitz

Professor & Data Science Program Director

CB 93
612-330-1068
zobitz@augsburg.edu

About Me

My intrinsic motivation to study mathematics derives from a passion to understand my surroundings through numbers. As a professor I am committed to engage and nurture that same passion in my students.

Throughout my life, I have been fascinated with the intersection of numbers and technology. I grew up in northern Minnesota and continue to enjoy wilderness opportunities in the region’s many lakes. Today my fascination manifests itself through mathematical modeling, more specifically mathematical biology (the application of mathematics to solve biological problems) and research in environmental science.

Mathematical modeling can take many different forms, and usually the goal is correlative (finding relationships between disparate data) or predictive (forecasting when the data will reach a certain level based on the assumptions). In both cases, the objective is to infer additional information from the data so that the sum is greater than the individual parts.

Education

Publications

Links to the journal website are provided when possible

  1. J. M. Zobitz, “Quantifying the atmospheric impact and carbon footprint of an urban biomass incinerator”, Winter 2009, Science Education and Civic Engagement: an International Journal.
  2. J. M. Zobitz, “Honoring Our Commitments Yields Hope, Love, and Joy,” Spring 2009, Till and Keep.
  3. J. M. Zobitz, S. P. Burns, M. Reichstein, D. R. Bowling, “Partitioning net ecosystem carbon exchange and the carbon isotopic disequilibrium in a subalpine forest,” 2008. Global Change Biology, 14(8):1785-1800.
  4. J. M. Zobitz, D. Moore, W. J. Sacks, R. K. Monson, D. R. Bowling, D. S. Schimel, “Integration of Process-based Soil Respiration Models withWhole-Ecosystem CO2 Measurements,” 2008. Ecosystems, 11:250-269.
  5. J. M. Zobitz, S. P. Burns, J. Ogée, M. Reichstein, D. R. Bowling, “Partitioning net ecosystem exchange of CO2 : A comparison of a Bayesian/isotope approach to environmental regression methods,” 2007. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences, 112, G03013, doi:10.1029/2006JG000282.
  6. D. Pataki, D.R. Bowling, J.R. Ehleringer, J. M. Zobitz, “High resolution atmospheric monitoring of urban CO2 sources,” 2006. GeophysicalResearch Letters, 33, L03813, doi:10.1029/2005GL024822.
  7. J.M.Zobitz, J.P.Keener, H.Schnyder, D.R.Bowling, “Sensitivity analysis and quantification of uncertainty for isotopic mixing relationships in carbon cycle research,” 2006. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 136:56-75, doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2006.01.003.
  8. J.M.Zobitz,“Pascal Matrices and Differential Equations,” 2003. Pi Mu Epsilon Journal, Vol. 11(8): 437-444.

Presentations and Talks

Current Research