People

Bess Ward profile pic 2

Bess Ward

Position: Faculty
Title: William J. Sinclair Professor of Geosciences and the Princeton Environmental Institute.
Area(s):

  • Biogeochemistry
  • Biological Oceanography
  • Microbiology

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
217 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-5150
Email: [email protected]

Curriculum Vitae


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Amal Jayakumar

Position: Research Staff
Title: Senior Professional Specialist, Geosciences
Area(s): Biogeochemistry
Research Focus:
Microbially mediated nitrogen transformations in oceanic oxygen minimum zones

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
M45 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-6294
Email: [email protected]

 


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Joseph Vineis

Position: Research Staff
Title: Associate Professional Specialist
Area(s): 

  • Microbial ecology
  • Biogeochemistry

Research summary: I integrate microbial genomics and biogeochemistry to identify key microbial processes and interactions that govern carbon and nitrogen cycling in marine environments.    

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://jvineis.github.io/


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Elizabeth Leon Palmero

Position: Research Staff
Title: Visiting Research Fellow
Area(s): Nitrous oxide, denitrification, biogeochemistry, microbiology
Research Summary: My main research interest is to understand the production and consumption of nitrous oxide (N2O) in fresh and marine ecosystems, including both abiotic and biotic pathways. As a Marie-Sklodowska-Curie fellow at Princeton University, I will be studying how marine deoxygenation affects N2O production in oxygen minimum zones. I am also interested in the effect of sunlight on N2O production. In my previous work at the University of Southern Denmark (NordCee), I focused on N2O in the Baltic Sea and the Greenland Sea. During my Ph.D. at the University of Granada I studied CO2, CH4, N2O in freshwater reservoirs.

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
157 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Email: [email protected]


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Samantha G. Fortin

Position: Research Staff
Title: Postdoctoral Research Associate

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
157 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-4674
Email: [email protected]

 

 


Devan M. Nisson profile pic

Devan M. Nisson

Position: Reserach Staff
Title: Postdoctoral Research Associate
Area(s): Geomicrobiology Research Laboratory

  • Geochemistry
  • Biogeochemistry

Research Summary: My research explores the origins and habitability of a deep subsurface hypersaline brine in South Africa. By combining geochemical, isotopic, and “omics” analyses, I investigate how the unique abiotic (prebiotic?) geochemical signatures of the brine may support microbial communities under the thermodynamic constraints of high temperature and hypersalinity. Additionally, I am interested in how the geochemical history and potentially long isolation time of the brine contribute to the formation of an abiotic fringe zone, where abiotic processes may dominate or exert strong influence over microbial biogeochemical cycling strategies.
Key words: microbial community, halophiles, biogeochemical cycling, subsurface life
Curriculum Vitae

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
B80 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 609-673-8326
Email: [email protected]

Curriculum Vitae
 


Weiyi Tang profile pic

Weiyi Tang

Position: Research Staff
Title: Postdoctoral Research Associate
Area(s):

  • Nitrification
  • Denitrification
  • Anammox

Research summary: Weiyi Tang is interested in how nitrogen is supplied, transformed, and removed in the global ocean and how marine nitrogen cycle is connected to the carbon cycle and Earth’s climate. During his PhD, Weiyi developed and applied high-resolution observing methods, molecular techniques and machine learning algorithms to explore marine nitrogen fixation and its impact on marine productivity in the world’s ocean. Joining the Ward research group, Weiyi will study the broad nitrogen biogeochemical pathways in addition to nitrogen fixation (e.g. nitrification, denitrification, anammox).

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
157 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-4674
Email: [email protected] 


Sean Wan profile pic

Xianhui (Sean) Wan

Position: Research Staff
Title: Associate Research Scholar
Area(s):

  • Stable Isotope
  • Nitrogen Cycle
  • Nitrous Oxide

Research summary: My research focuses on the marine nitrogen and carbon cycles, particularly in microbe-phytoplankton interactions and nitrous oxide (N2O) production in different marine systems (from the eutrophic coastal zone to the oligotrophic open ocean). To disentangle complex C & N dynamics, I take advantage of multiple C, N and O stable isotope approaches (including both natural abundance and isotope labelling technique) to examine rates of C and N transformations. Main target of my research is to better understand the role of the ocean in regulating atmospheric CO2 and N2O during the intimate coupling of C & N cycles and how these processes respond to anthropogenic forcing and natural variabilities. 

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
157 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (313) 502 1768
Email: [email protected]
Website

 


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Zachary Garvin


Title: Graduate Student
Area(s): Geomicrobiology Research Laboratory

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
B88 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 609-258-2387
Email: [email protected]

Curriculum Vitae

 

 


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J. Catherine Hexter


Title: Graduate Student

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Email: [email protected]

 

 

 


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Naomi Intrator


Title: Graduate Student

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-4674
Email: [email protected]

 

 


Moriah Kunes profile pic

Moriah A. Kunes


Title: Graduate Student
Area(s):

  • Coral Symbionts
  • Biological Oceanography 
  • Nitrogen Cycle
  • Coral Reefs

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (585) 727-7085
Email: [email protected]


Jenna Lee profile pic

Jenna Lee


Title: Graduate Student

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
157 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-4674
Email: [email protected]

 

 

 


Mary Rose Russo

Mary-Rose Russo

Position: Administrative Staff
Title: Administrative Assistant, Geosciences

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
113 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone:+1 (609) 258-4101
Email: [email protected]

 

 


Former Group Members