My research

The ocean teems with marine microbes that drift with the currents. Though invisible to the naked eye, these microbes play an outsized role in shaping food webs and cycling elements across the planet. My research is dedicated to understanding these remarkable organisms and the processes they drive.

Plankton from the Oregon Coast in July 2023, shot with the Curiosity Microscope.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere is fixed into organic carbon by phytoplankton in the sunlit surface ocean. This organic carbon fuels marine food webs, but a portion of it is exported to the deep ocean, where it can remain isolated from the atmosphere for centuries to millennia. This vertical export of organic carbon is one of the primary ways the ocean buffers rising atmospheric CO₂ from human activity.



My research explores questions such as:

• How are different oceanic carbon pools shaped by microbial activity?
• How do microbial–carbon relationships vary across environments and timescales?
• How will microbial activity shift as the climate changes and marine environments are perturbed?

To investigate these questions, I collaborate with a broad range of ocean scientists, integrating biogeochemical, bio-optical, remote sensing, and experimental data to gain a holistic understanding of ocean microbial dynamics.