March 17, 2022
Justin Podowski successfully defended his thesis titled “Unraveling microbial contributions to nitrogen and carbon cycling in the Laurentian Great Lakes.” Justin’s committee was Maureen Coleman (primary advisor), Jacob Waldbauer, David Jablonski, and Catherine Pfister (Department of Ecology and Evolution).
What's next for Dr. Podowski? At Argonne, he will be working as a Data Scientist. His projects will focus on soil microbial communities and their response to radiation and chemical contaminants. Congrats again!
February 28, 2022
The Winter Grab is a first of its kind, week-long collection event for regional researchers studying Great Lakes’ winter conditions. There is a particular interest in studying microbes living beneath the ice of Lake Michigan’s largest bay.
María Hernández, a University of Chicago graduate student, said, “We always used to think that during the winter (the ecosystem) was dormant. But now there’s a lot of hypotheses, and a lot of the sciences in working groups are developing that actually the ice is a nice environment for the microbes.”
Maureen Coleman, associate professor of geosciences at the University of Chicago, began the first long-term study of Great Lakes microorganisms in 2012, leading to the discovery of hundreds of new species. Her lab will analyze samples from the Great Lakes sites to get a better picture of what the minuscule sentinels are up to.
Michael Henson, a postdoctoral scholar studying aquatic microbiology in the University of Chicago’s Department of Geophysical Sciences, and Hanna Renedo, a research assistant focusing on visual science communication also participated in the event.
Microbe and chill while sampling some articles right here and right here.
February 23, 2022
NASA has selected University of Chicago associate professor of geophysical sciences, Edwin Kite, to join the Mars Curiosity rover mission as a participating scientist. Kite, along with fourth-year Ph.D. student Sasha Warren, hopes to expand the rover science team’s understanding of climate history on Mars.
Kite and Warren will use their time gathering evidence of fractures, veins, and deformation features to distinguish between proposed explanations for water flow paths above and under the ground surface at the mound in the middle of Gale Crater that Curiosity is exploring.
This news is anything but dry! Check it!