Accepting new graduate research students
In my research group, we study interactions between humans and their environment on a variety of temporal and spatial scales. Much of this research is focused on soils or paleosols (fossil soils), but we study a variety of terrestrial environments including lakes, springs, and rivers. We are focused on using stable isotopes and geochemistry to answer questions about past climates or environments with a firm foundation in sedimentary geology. I have active field projects in Kenya and Tanzania and have just begun a project on the Eocene of western North America. These projects are mostly associated with archaeological or paleontological sites where I have been working to reconstruct the paleoenvironment. One of my long-term research goals is to understand the context in which organisms (especially humans) lived and the effects on their evolution and adaptation to their environment. More recently, I have also shifted my focus to time periods in the earth’s past which are good analogs for anthropogenic climate change. We will be studying how environments and organisms respond to rapid changes in atmospheric CO 2 and the resulting temperature increases in the Eocene (~55 million years ago).
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