The last few years have been very productive and exciting for research group lab group! The team has spent a lot of time at sea. In winter 2022, I sailed off the coast of South Africa on International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 392: Agulhas Plateau Cretaceous Climate. Two PhD students
Tatiana Fernandez Perez and Rachael Gray both sailed on IODP expeditions in 2022 and 2023. Tatiana sailed on Expedition 398: Hellenic Arc Volcanic Field and she is investigating how volcanic ash impacts the availability of nutrients in the Mediterranean Sea. Rachael sailed on Expedition 400: NW Greenland Glaciated Margin and she is studying how past changes in ice sheet dynamics alter pathways of sediment transport and iron delivery to the ocean.
Last summer, I led a research cruise onboard the RV Sikuliaq to the Gulf of Alaska to investigate differences in iron cycling between glaciated and non-glaciated coastal regions. Seven students and researchers from Kent State joined this expedition and we had a very successful couple weeks at sea! New PhD student Thilini Wijewardhana will work on this Gulf of Alaska project and will participate in a cruise this summer!
Lab postdoc Chelsea Smith led lake sediment coring on Toolik Lake on the north slope of Alaska to understand metal and carbon cycling. Her research was funded by a National Geographic Explorer Grant and an Environmental Science and Design Research Institute Grant. In January, Chelsea started a new job at the Adirondack Watershed Institute.
A significant aspect of my service involves serving the US scientific ocean drilling community. This community has experienced a decent amount of upheaval in recent years with the end of an international program and retirement of the US drilling vessel the JOIDES Resolution. Over the last three years, I have been a member of the US Advisory Committee on Scientific Ocean Drilling. In September, I hosted a workshop of thirty students and scientists at Stone Lab in Lake Erie to discuss future directions in interstitial water science. Masters student Hailey Connor is making use of legacy ocean drilling materials to investigate the impacts of seafloor basalt weathering on ocean carbon chemistry.