Rate My Professor Brian Ohsowski

Brian Ohsowski, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago. He holds a PhD in Biology from the University of British Columbia, an MSc in Ecology and Organismal Biology from Eastern Michigan University, and a BSc in Biology from Eastern Michigan University. Ohsowski joined the faculty in 2015 and teaches courses focused on restoration ecology and conservation biology, including ENVS 330/420 Restoration Ecology, ENVS 320/420 Conservation Biology, ENVS 286 Principles of Ecology Lab, ENVS 321 Conservation Biology Lab, ENVS 331 Restoration Ecology Lab, and ENVS 203 Environmental Statistics. His teaching emphasizes applied ecology approaches to human-impacted systems, biodiversity threats such as habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and climate change, and supports student career development through guidance on resumes, cover letters, and ecological internships.

Ohsowski's research centers on the preservation and restoration of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, counteracting human-induced impacts from localized disturbances to global climate change. He investigates practical methods for recovering plant, animal, and soil communities post-disturbance, integrating remediation tools like municipal compost, biochar, biosolids, arbuscular mycorrhizae, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and earthworms. Current projects include soil biogeochemical cycles and native plant recovery in highway-disturbed areas, Typha x glauca invasion dynamics in Great Lakes coastal marshes as part of a Loyola wetland ecology team, and large-scale restoration for land managers. He has secured major grants, including $1,116,288 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2023-2028) for invasive plant control, waterbird habitat improvement, and nutrient runoff reduction via biomass harvest and biochar reapplication, and $297,500 from the Illinois Tollway (2022-2024) for bioswale enhancement. In 2023, he received the Langerbeck Award for Undergraduate Research Mentorship from Loyola's Center for Engaged Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship. Key publications include "Identifying worldviews on corporate sustainability: A content analysis of corporate sustainability reports" (2018), "Where the wild things are: looking for uncultured Glomeromycota" (2014), "Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus responses to disturbance are context-dependent" (2017), "Field-based measurement tools to distinguish clonal Typha taxa and estimate biomass: a resource for conservation and restoration" (2024), and "Wetland plant species and biochar amendments lead to variable salinity reduction in roadway-associated soils" (2024). His contributions advance ecological restoration and management in disturbed habitats and the Great Lakes region.