I study the impacts of disturbances on belowground processes, with emphasis on soil carbon cycling.
Interested in research experience in DOE? You get paid while getting trained with and mentored by me + a great opportunity to network with other amazing researchers at ORNL!
​
For undergraduate students:
The Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI)
​
Minority Serving Institutions Internship Program (NNSA-MSIIP):
https://orise.orau.gov/NNSA-MSIIP/
​
For community college students:
https://science.osti.gov/wdts/cci
​
For graduate students:
I am a Geographer, an Environmental Scientist, and a Soil Scientist by training. Such interdisciplinary background has allowed me to explore different components of the Earth system. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA) I focus on the impacts of disturbances on belowground processes to improve the ability of computer models to predict our future climate.
​
I am generally interested in how disturbances impact:
-
transformation of organic matter in soils;
-
the mobility of carbon within the soil vertical profile;
-
carbon cycling and storage during post-disturbance ecosystem recovery trajectory
-
the transport of organic matter from land to rivers;
-
the way soils alter aquatic ecosystems in watersheds.
Most of my work is focused on soil - an important source of organic carbon. Soil locks up large amounts of organic carbon. Most of this carbon is derived from organic matter (e.g. leaves, twigs, and needles) that enters in the soil and undergoes numerous transformation, mobilization and transport processes.
To investigate these processes, I use a combination of state-of-the-art techniques (including spectroscopy, spectrometry, and remote sensing) to quantify carbon in the environment, and study individual molecules that contain carbon to understand how stable and mobile organic matter is in soil.
​
More recently, I have been more interested in understanding how disturbances affect functional relationships between aboveground (vegetation changes and recovery) and belowground (soil properties and biogeochemistry). To do this, I collaborate with nice and accomplished researchers at national laboratories (including my colleagues at ORNL) and universities.