I favor the removal of barriers between scientific disciplines, and thus consider myself as a biogeochemist at the crossover of chemistry, geology and biology, using interdisciplinaryapproaches to study dynamic aquatic systems, such as the Great Lakes.
My research area consists of identifying and characterizing reactions in aquatic ecosystems involving trace elements (molybdenum, rhenium, uranium, tungsten, vanadium, chromium, etc…), in order to decipher processes that govern the fate and transport of these trace metals in both modern and ancient aquatic systems. More specifically, I explore the biogeochemical cycling of trace metals through experimental geochemistry, analysis of diverse natural materials (water column, porewater, lacustrine and marine sediments, ancient black shales, micro-organisms), and transport-reaction modeling. My aim is to explore the molecular processes involved in the biogeochemical cycles of trace elements.
By using these integrative approaches, I want to improve our understanding of the paleo-environmental implications of trace-element behavior, such as their potential to illuminate how the chemistry of Earth’s surface has changed through geologic time, as well as the implications for modern societies—including environmental chemistry and identification of anthropogenic sources.
