 |
Researcher 2017-Present Postdoctoral Associate 2016-Present Laboratory Manager 2013-2015 |
I currently study how climate change, both past and present, impacts the biology and ecology of foraminifera. I developed methods for semi-3D digitization of microfossils used in the Hull lab’s brute-force community morphometrics technique (AutoMorph). We are quantifying the contributions of macroevolutionary and ecological processes in the context of environmental change to determine the drivers of morphological change. I am also interested in how body size evolution is influenced by temperature and oxygenation and how those factors impact organismal metabolic rates. |
 |
Postdoctoral Associate 2017-Present Flint Postdoctoral Fellow 2014-2016 |
My research focuses on the interplay between Earth’s climate and the fluxes of carbon from the lithosphere into the atmosphere, ocean, and finally into sediments. As the oceans represent the largest surficial reservoir of carbon, characterizing the marine carbon cycle is crucial to understanding the long-term regulation of atmospheric pCO2 and climate. I am trained in a suite of inorganic proxies for carbonate chemistry and climatic parameters preserved in geological archives, particularly deep-sea sediment cores from the Cenozoic. |
 |
YIBS Donnelly Postdoctoral Fellow, Former Pagani Group, 2015-Present |
My work involves applying geochemical proxy techniques in order to evaluate paleotemperatures, paleoenvironments, and paleoceanographic conditions for warmer climates in the past. My research at Yale explores how global sea surface temperatures responded during the late Oligocene (ca. 30-23 million years ago), a time of declining atmospheric CO2. |
 |
PhD Student, Former Pagani Group, Former Affek Group 2012-Present |
My research focuses on the late Cretaceous Greenhouse climate. I use carbonate clumped isotope geochemistry on a variety of fossil material including mollusks, vertebrates, and planktonic foraminifera to understand the evolution of meridional temperature gradients and sea surface temperatures from the peak greenhouse (~100 million years ago) to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction (~65 million years ago). |
 |
PhD Student, Former Pagani Group 2012-Present |
My research focuses on the use of organic proxies and light stable isotopes to study past climates. I principally focus on climates during warm intervals of the past, with a particular focus on the Miocene, using a variety of organic and inorganic proxies for parameters including temperature, precipitation, pH, and CO2. |
 |
PhD Student 2014-Present |
My areas of interest include paleoecology, oceanography and macroevolution. My goal is to study the effects of climate change events on evolutionary trajectories and community structure and function throughout time. I also hope to gain knowledge of the biology and ecology of planktonic foraminifera as well as the methods for analyzing foraminiferal assemblages from the past and present. |
 |
PhD Student 2016-Present |
I’m interested in mass extinctions, their recovery intervals, and the interplay between the biosphere and the geosphere surrounding those events. I’m also interested in fossil preservation and how it affects our understanding of the fossil record. |
 |
PhD Student 2016-Present |
I am broadly interested in how marine ecosystems respond and adapt to environmental pressures, with a view towards understanding how to best manage modern-day marine ecosystems and natural resources. In particular, I am interested in developing and using high-throughput techniques to analyze foraminiferal assemblages and geochemical data on a global scale. My past work has centered around using fossilized teeth to investigate how fish populations respond to abrupt climate change. |
 |
2017-Present |
I am broadly interested in understanding evolutionary patterns in the fossil record and their links with extinction events. In particular, I am fascinated by sexual selection, and when, how, and why it evolved. I am also interested in the effects of hyperthermal activity on planktonic foraminifera, and how such events affect the isotopic composition of foraminiferal tests. |
Independent study/ Thesis students:
| Maddie Shankle | 2013-present | Volcanic glass in marine sediments |
Undergraduate Research Assistants:
| Christiana Hart | 2016-present |
Former Postdoctoral Researchers & Graduate Students:
| Michael Henehan | 2014-2017 | current info & whereabouts |
| Shuang Zhang | 2015-2017 | current info & whereabouts |
| Allison Hsiang | 2014-2016 | current info & whereabouts |
| Simon D’haenens | 2014-2016 | current info & whereabouts |
| David Evans | 2015-2016 | current info & whereabouts |
| Luke Strotz | 2016 | current info & whereabouts |
Former Interns & Independent Study Students:
|
Mahima Kumera (Summer Independent Research 2017: MECO temperature evolution), Jack Shaw (Independent Research 2016-2017: PETM stable isotopes), Romy Carpenter (Research 2016: Long Island Sound Invert. Physiology), Casey Culligan (Independent Research [high schooler] 2015-2016: Planktonic foraminiferal shape evolution), Chris Bowman (Research & Thesis Student 2015-2016: Isotopic sensitivity of Eocene foraminifera), Paige Breen (Research & Thesis Student 2014-2016: Middle Eocene isotopic community structure), Sara Kahanamoku-Snelling (STARS II Fellow & Thesis Student 2014-2016: Macroecology of foraminifera and limpets), Rain Tsong (Research & Thesis Student 2014-2016: Middle Eocene paleoceanography & Li Isotopes), Megan Mikenas (Summer Intern & Independent Study 2014-2015: Ecological response to the K-Pg), Volkan Özen (Summer Intern 2014: Boron isotopes across the K-Pg), Yusu Liu (Independent Study 2013-2014: Bioinformatics of shape), Liana Epstein (Thesis Student 2013-2014: Geochemistry of the K-Pg), Samantha Lichtin (Independent Study 2013-2014: High throughput shape), Frances (Yuchen) Lui (Independent Study 2013-2014: Atlantic foraminifera) |
Former Undergraduate Research Assistants:
|
Francine Rois-Fetchkno (2016-2017), Than Minh Tran (2014-2017), Molly Mullen (2013-2016), Emma Tipton (2013-2016), Corrin Laposki (2014-2016), Rachelle Graham (2014-2016), Rebecca Dendy (2013-2015), Joanne Zhenheng Li (2013-2015), Saad Syed (2014-2016), Sergio Lopez-Valdez (2015), Katherine Bradley (2014), Kevin Ennis (2014), Jason Entgelmeier (2014), Ivy Nyayieka (2014), Susan Rundell (2014), Adam Sokol (2014), Nicholas Shintaro Ten (2014), Sophia Kecskes (2013-2014), Yumi Koga (2013-2014), Emma Speer (2013-2014), Juan Aragon (2013), Sofia Carrera (2013), Shalila de Bourmont (2013), Mina Himwich (2013), XinXin Xu (2013), Sarah Gilbert (2012-2013) |
Former Evolutions Students & Mentors:
|
Evolutions 2017: Carina Andrea, Kyndall Hailey Evolutions 2016: Gabriela Villanueva, Aaliyah Shabazz Evolutions 2015: Ahmad Keita, Janae McMillan, Juhi Nath, Diego Ospina Evolutions 2014: Zariah Altman, George Baldwin, Meeshali Patel, Sywia Zambrycka Evolutions 2013: Jenna LaFontaine, Kurt LoPresto, Amanda Plaza Evolutions Undergraduate Mentors: Matt Ormrod (2013-2014), Jennifer Messervy (2015), Georgienna Driver (2016) |