Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Contact
375-08 John T. Tate Hall
116 Church Street Se
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Affiliations
Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
I am a geomicrobiologist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and a member of the BioTechnology Institute at UMN. My research examines the impact of microbial activity on geological and environmental processes such as mineral formation, mineral alteration and weathering, metal(loid) redox transformations, nutrient biogeochemical cycling, and the remediation of polluted environments. My specific research objectives are driven by conducting fundamental scientific research on environmentally relevant biogeochemical processes and key elements in nature that are further influenced by anthropogenic activities (e.g., mining, agriculture, and climate change). Because of the highly interdisciplinary nature of my research, I work with a multidisciplinary team of scientists and students with diverse scientific training and expertise. We use multiple approaches ranging from metagenomics, genomics, and transcriptomics to understand microbial communities and molecular mechanisms associated with specific biogeochemical activities to mineralogical X-ray and spectroscopic techniques to identify and characterize biomineralization products and stability of these products in a changing environment. In addition to answering key questions on the mechanisms, metabolic pathways, and geochemical impact of mineral—metal-microbe interactions, we seek to inform and improve strategies for remediating inorganic pollutants to improve the quality and health of water and soil environments.
To learn more about me and my research group, visit my Santelli Geomicrobiology Lab website or follow me (@biominerals) on Twitter.
Visit Cara Santelli's Experts@Minnesota profile page.
B.S. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2000
Ph.D. MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, 2007 (Katrina Edwards and Wolfgang Bach)
Postdoctorate Harvard University, 2010 (Colleen Hansel)
Google Scholar
Experts@Minnesota
Recent Research Support
NSF CNH2-L “First We Must Consider Manoomin” (Wild Rice): A Flagship for Co-Creating Socio-Ecological Knowledge to Support Indigenous Resource Sovereignty, 2020 – 2024, PI M. Dockry, $1,500,000
DOE SBR “Interactions between molecular-scale biogeochemical processes and hyporheic exchange for understanding coupled Fe-S-C cycling in iron-rich riparian wetlands”, 2019 – 2023, PI C. Santelli, $600,000
NSF IES “Collaborative research: Banded together: modern water-microbe-mineral feedbacks in the deep Archean lithosphere”, Dec. 2018 – 2023, PI B. Toner, $2,396,666
NSF GG “CAREER: Genome-enabled investigations into the mechanisms and ecological controls on selenium transformations by fungi”, 2018 – 2023, PI Santelli, $855,655
MnDRIVE Environment “Remediation and selective recovery of metals by Mn oxidizing microbes”, 2020-2022 $154,000
Awards
Environmental Initiative Organization, Local Sustainability Award, Honorable Mention, “First We Should Consider Manoomin”, 2020
NSF CAREER Award, 2018 – 2023