Our group studies how life has changed through time and how life’s adaptations have altered the environment and climate. We are Geobiologists, which means we use geochemistry and microbiology to study ecosystems found in modern environments like anoxic lakes or the deep sea, and in ancient sediments that have long since hardened into rock.
Scroll down to see all the great folks who are busy in the lab now and alumni who are doing new and exciting things. Please reach out and let us know if you’d like to join the group. We’re always looking for people who like to play with rocks and mud.
Bill Gilhooly, Associate Professor publications
I grew up on the east coast of the US where I spent a lot time camping and hiking, or at the beaches of VA and NC. I’ve always been interested in the outdoors and how things work in nature. My academic background is in Environmental Sciences and Geosciences. My teaching and research focuses on the interactions between living things and their environment.
Brooke Vander Pas, PhD candidate
Brooke is studying how early rooted plants may have triggered marine anoxia during the Devonian as part of a larger project funded by the NSF and ACS-PRF.
Moses Jatta, MS candidate
Moses is studying the chemistry of glacial outflow as part of a NSF funded project of naled ice in southwestern Greenland.
Therra Wilbrandt, PhD candidate
Therra is studying cryptic sulfur cycling and iron availability within sediments of the South Atlantic Transect, IODP Expeditions 390 and 393.
Fotious Fouskas, PhD candidate
I am working on sulfur-iron biogeochemistry in modern euxinic lakes to understand the early Earth environment and its microbial reactions kept in the sedimentary record. This study will help better constrain the active redox cycle of sulfur and the pathways of reduced-S within the sediments by examining pyrite and organo-sulfur formation.
“Ẻν οἴδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἴδα” -Socrates
(All I know for sure is that I know nothing)
Lab Alumni & Where They Are Now
James Harris
M.S. 2023
Information Technology Engineer
Dr. Matthew Smart
PhD 2022 (co-advised with Gabe Filippelli)
Lieutenant Commander, USNR
Assistant Professor, United States Naval Academy
https://www.usna.edu/Oceanography/index.php
Giannina Ramirez
B.S. Environmental Science 2022
Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Scholar
Graduate Student
Department of Geology and Environmental Science
University of Pittsburgh
Evelyn Becerra
M.S. 2022
Environmental Consultant
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
https://floridadep.gov/dear/water-quality-restoration/content/basin-management-action-plans-bmaps
Alyssa Henke
M.S. 2020
Food and Beverage Executive Team Lead at Target
Shan Khan
B.S. Geology, 2020
Field Geologist
Terracon, Indianapolis
Dr. Alice Bosco Santos
Post Doctoral Scholar 2018
Junior Lecturer
Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics
University of Lausanne, Switzerland
https://www.aliceboscosantos.com/
Mauricio Rigoni Baldim
Visiting PhD student from UNICAMP 2017
Professor
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT)
Brazil
Martin Kurek
B.S. Chemistry and Geochemistry Minor, 2017
Post Doctoral Scholar
Florida State University
https://www.spencerbiogeochem.org/people/phd-students/
Dan Orazi
Pharmaceutical consultant
Indianapolis
Clint Broach
M.S. 2014
Geologist
CountryMark
http://www.countrymark.com/
Jake Walker,
BS Chemistry and Geology minor, 2014