I am a marine biology/biochemistry doctoral student working with Dr.
George Luther and Dr. Craig Cary at the University of Delaware College of Marine Studies. This will be my third cruise with the Alvin group, as I was part of the Extreme 2000 and 2001 cruises as well. On this year's cruise, we will be using new in situ analyzers which allow us to measure different important chemical species from the waters surrounding the vents.

What kinds of questions will you try to answer, and why?

We collect our data to attempt to better understand how the chemistry of
the vent systems affects biological distributions and processes. We are especially interested in utilizing in situ voltammetric techniques to determine real-time redox transition zone chemical speciation. We've already successfully used such measurements to characterize vent chemistry on previous Alvin cruises, and more recently to characterize the chemistry of the Black Sea oxic-anoxic transition zone on board the R/V Knorr. The research we perform on Extreme 2003 will continue to provide valuable information regarding relationships between the chemical environment and the biological ecology associated with hydrothermal vents.

What is your educational background? What lured you into marine research?

I have been interested in the oceans for as long as I can remember, and I came to the University of Delaware College of Marine Studies (CMS) after completing a bachelor's degree in biology with a minor in marine science at Pennsylvania State University. Since then, I have completed a master's degree at CMS with an emphasis in marine biology-biochemistry, while researching estuarine ecology with Dr. Kent Price. Having always been curious about interactions between organisms and their chemical environments, deciding to work toward a Ph.D. with Dr. Luther as an adviser was an easy choice. Since beginning the Ph.D. program, I have had great experiences, and we have had much success with redox transition zone studies in various environments including salt-marsh microbial mats, coastal bay sediments and water columns, hydrothermal vents, and the suboxic zone of the Black Sea.