Areas of expertise:
chemical and biological weathering of minerals, microbe-mineral-water interactions, biofilm processes, water quality and contamination, bioremediation, base cation nutrient cycles, and watershed-based hydrochemistry.
Education:
Ph.D., Washington State University
Courses taught in GESC (also teaches in CHEM):
GEOL 109 – The Global Environment w/ 2 hr lab
GEOL 250 – Special Topics: The Geology in Art of Hungary (new J-Term course offered every 2-3 years)
GEOL 305 – Groundwater Hydrology
GEOL 416 and 416L – Geochemistry and Geochemistry Lab
GEOL 490 – Senior Project
Distinctions (Awards, Fellowships and Grants):
National Science Foundation 2017-18: EAGER (Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research): How does soil moisture content affect fungal weathering, diversity and abundance? Awarded. PI; NSF/EAR 1742941
2017 Freedman Prize in collaboration with students Kevin J. LeDone ’18 (co-advisor Dr. Piefer), Victoria L. Hubbard ’18, and Ian C. Forbes ’18.
2016 Outstanding Reviewer for Journal of Soils and Sediments, Springer Publications
2016 Freedman Prize in collaboration with students Nicole K. Mehr ’17, and Kyle E. Smart ’17.
Faculty Research Grant and Milne Family Fund Awards, Hartwick College, 2016-17: Continuation of monitoring the effects of the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid on soil and soil water chemistry at two state parks.
2015 Freedman Prize in collaboration with students Killian Tallman ’16 and Joseph Balnis ’15 (co-advisor Dr. Piefer)
Faculty Research Grant and Milne Family Fund Awards, Hartwick College, 2015-2016: Investigations of physical, chemical and microbial processes and properties in soils of hemlock forests in the Upper Susquehanna Watershed.
Teacher-Scholar Award, Hartwick College, 2015
2014 Freedman Prize in collaboration with student Brian Redder ‘15
Faculty Research Grant and Milne Family Fund Awards, Hartwick College, 2014-2015: Responses of soil and water chemistry to hemlock woolly adelgid induced decline in tree productivity in the Upper Susquehanna Watershed.
Outstanding Reviewer for Biogeochemistry 2013, Springer Publishing Group.
Otsego County Conservation Association and the Otsego County Soil and Water Conservation District: Founded a project for Baseline Water Quality Monitoring in Otsego County, NY (Sept 2012 – Aug 2013)
2013 Freedman Prize in collaboration with students Danielle Lord ‘14 and Jenae Withey ‘14 (co-advisor Dr. Griffing)
2012 Freedman Prize in collaboration with student Kyle A. Greenberg ‘13
National Science Foundation: ETBC Collaborative Research: Weathering Under Cover: Role of biofilms in mineral weathering and nutrient uptake in the mycorrhizosphere (June 2010 – Dec 2012); PI; collaboration with Washington State University.
User Grant of William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, Richland, WA, USA (2010 to 2013)
National Science Foundation: Expanding Collaborative Research and Education Opportunities to Protect Biological Diversity on Public Lands in Upstate New York (Feb 2010 – Jan 2013); co-PI.
Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship at University of Copenhagen, Department of Chemistry, NanoGeoScience Unit (July 2010 – June 2012)
Faculty Research Grant and Milne Family Fund Awards, Hartwick College (2009-2010 Academic year)
Otsego County Conservation Association research funding for water quality monitoring of the Upper Susquehanna River basin, Oneonta, NY, (Summer 2009)
H. Walter & Jeanette Praetorius Exxon Graduate Fellowship, Department of Geology Washington State University (2005 and 2006)
