Tuesday, October 27, 2009

describing myself

I had to write a blurb about myself today for our lab's website. It was challenging because I haven't started doing my own research yet, and I am not totally sure what I want to focus on, although I am beginning to develop some ideas. It ended up being pretty vague and not as technical as I would like, but I think this is as good as I can do for now...

I am interested in deep-sea microbial ecology, specifically in extreme environments (ie hydrothermal vents). I am working to constrain rates of microbially mediated metabolic processes that occur in vent chimney walls through the use of flow-through bioreactors in the lab. I hope to be able to extend these experiments into the field. I am interested in how these types of reactions may influence broader marine biogeochemical cycles. I am particularly interested in the role that vent ecosystems may play in the carbon cycle. I am also interested in the insights that high-temperature microbial life can bring to the search for life elsewhere in our solar system. I come from a geology/environmental science background, and I am fascinated by environmental overlap of geology and biology. It is my long term goal to increase our understanding of how biological and geological process interact in the deep sea.

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