Summer REU Program at College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences and Hatfield Marine Science Center

Oregon State University is proud to announce the availability of paid research internships for 20 students during the summer of 2010. Ten students will be located at the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences (COAS) in Corvallis, and another 10 located at the Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), 60 miles west on the Pacific coast in Newport.

Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program offers students the unique opportunity to work on individual research projects, and participate in group field trips, seminars and science colloquia over a 10-week period at COAS and HMSC under the guidance of university and research agency scientists, who serve as mentors. The REU program runs from June 14 to August 20, 2010. On-site housing at OSU or HMSC and a weekly stipend are provided.

The COAS site offers a particularly broad range of research opportunities in the physics, chemistry, geology and biology of solid Earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences. We welcome students with backgrounds and interests in any of these areas. While students work independently with their research mentors, there are numerous opportunities to interact with other scientists and all students in both locations, through orientation, weekly seminars, group field trips, social events, and final project presentations. A list of potential mentors and project research areas appears below. Please remember to browse this list and indicate those faculty and research areas that most interest you on your application.

More information is available on OSU's marine science REU site, including the summer schedule, application procedures, and past intern projects.

For more information specific to the COAS internships, please contact:

• Bob Duncan (rduncan@coas.oregonstate.edu)
• Kaplan Yalcin (yalcink@geo.oregonstate.edu)

COAS Mentors, Summer Internships

Jack Barth

B. A., University of Colorado, 1982

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography, 1987

Interests: Frontal instability processes; coastal ocean dynamics; eastern boundary currents and their associated jets and eddies; flow-topography interactions.

Current Research: High-resolution observation of jets and eddies over the continental shelf and slope and in an eastern boundary current region; modeling of wind- and buoyancy-forced coastal circulation.

• Coastal Ocean Advances in Shelf Transport (COAST)http://damp.oce.orst.edu/coast/
• Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics Northeast Pacific Program (GLOBEC-NEP) http://damp.coas.oregonstate.edu/globec/nep/
• Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) http://www.piscoweb.org/
• Summer course on "Coastal Physical Oceanography and Marine Ecosystems," UC Santa Cruz, 19 June to 8 July 2006 http://www.piscoweb.org/courses/ucsc
• Ocean Surface Drifters Released off the Oregon Coasthttp://diana.coas.oregonstate.edu/drift/
• Ocean Observatory Planning: Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION) http://www.orionocean.org/

Lorenzo Ciannelli

1993. Laureate in Biology, Universita’ Degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Italy.

2002. Ph.D. in Aquatic Fishery and Sciences, University of Washington, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS), Seattle, WA.

Interests: My primary research focus is on fisheries oceanography and marine ecosystem ecology. I am interested in studying the causes of temporal and spatial variations of marine populations. Most of my work revolves around early life stages of fish, as variability at the population level is closely linked to egg, larval and juvenile survival in marine organisms. Through these investigations I combine quantitative analyses (i.e., mathematical and statistical modeling) with more field and experimentally oriented approaches.

Current Research: Role of predator-prey interactions in marine ecosystem organization: development of a new toolbox and a comparison of key interactions in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska ecosystems

Understanding the role predator-prey interactions have on the organization of a marine ecosystem is critical when trying to study the effects climate change has on an ecosystem's function. Through this study we investigate the anatomy of key trophic interactions between fish species of the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. In particular, we focus our analysis on the characterization of predator-prey functional and numerical responses, basic components of predation that so often escape meaningful insight. An explicit focus of our analysis is on variability over space and time of predator-prey interactions. To this end we propose. The intern will learn some of the important methodologies necessary when conducting ecosystem studies and examine the effect of climate change. Specifically, she/he will assist in collecting data from various databases on predator-prey interactions and environmental conditions, and analyze those using spatially-explicit statistical tools. The project is mostly analytical in its nature, with opportunities to learn statistical programming, data visualization and synthesis from large volume of spatial data.  The intern will also have ample opportunities to participate in other research activities that are occurring in the lab, which also include daily field trips aboard of coastal research vessels.

Rick Colwell

1986 Ph.D., Microbiology, Virginia Tech

1977 B.A., Biology, Whitman College

Interests: Microbial ecology, subsurface microbiology, geomicrobiology, coupling of microbial rates and processes to physical and chemical parameters in the environment, sensing and monitoring of microbes, methods for sampling the earth’s subsurface for microorganisms, bioremediation.

Current Research: Methane in deep marine sediments is an important component of the global carbon cycle. Microbes that use this methane in the sediments usually cannot generate much cell mass. However, visible biofilms in millimeter-scale fractures have recently been observed in methane-charged sediments and characterization of these organisms is underway. To understand the relationships between these microbial accumulations and sediment structure, fluid flow and metabolite fluxes we need to be able to measure the chemical changes at a finer spatial resolution than allowed by conventional sediment-sampling techniques. This project will aim to use novel approaches to monitor pore water chemistry and microbial mineralization processes at a small (sub-centimeter) spatial resolution that is required in order to understand fluid flow and microbial accumulation in sediment microfractures. The experimental approach will use simulated sediment cores, that will be artificially modified to introduce: 1) fractures of the scale observed in seafloor sediments and 2) a microbial community that simulates those in the seafloor settings. The sediment will be ?incubated? for 14-30 days and then dissected and analyzed for heterogeneities in the microbial community distribution, pore water chemistries, and mineralogical changes associated with the microbial activity.

Ed Dever

1995. Ph.D., Physical Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods HoleOceanographic Institution

1989. M.S., Physical Oceanography, Texas A&M University

1987. B.S., Physics, Texas A&M University

Interests: Cross-shelf exchange processes, the analysis and prediction of parcel transport, air-sea interaction, and the effect of coastal ocean circulation on nutrients and chlorophyll. I analyze physical oceanographic and meteorological data (primarily moored time series and surface drifters) and apply analytical models.

Current Research: The effects of spatially variable wind forcing on coastal upwelling and the nutrient and chlorophyll response (first link), the Columbia river plume off the Oregon and Washington shelves (second link), and the development of coastal ocean observing systems (third link).

• Wind-driven coastal upwelling off northern California (Wind Events and Shelf Transport): http://www.ccs.ucsd.edu/coop/west/
• The Columbia River plume (River Influences on Shelf Ecosystems): http://www.ocean.washington.edu/rise/index.htm
• Ocean observing systems (Oregon Coastal Ocean Observing System): http://www.orcoos.org

Bob Duncan

1976. Ph.D., Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University

1972. M.S., Geophysics, Stanford University

1971. A.B., Geology, Princeton University

Interests: Geochronology and petrogenesis of ocean floor and oceanic island basalts applied to modeling crustal movements in the ocean basins; geochemistry of oceanic basalts to map upper mantle heterogeneities; hydrothermal alteration of midocean ridge basalts; the origin, composition, timing and environmental effects of large igneous processes.

Current Research: Ar-geochronology of ocean island basalts, particularly hotspot-generated chains of volcanoes; geochronology and geochemistry of volcanism in the Coast Ranges of Oregon and Washington, and the formation of the continental border of the Pacific Northwest; geochronology applied to the evolution of the Western Cascades volcanic arc; the origin of large igneous provinces on continents and in ocean basins; trace metals in marine sediments as evidence for linking ocean plateau volcanism with mass extinctions.

Chris Goldfinger

BA, Humboldt State University (Geology), 1980

BS, Humboldt State University (Geologic Oceanography), 1980

MS, Oregon State University (Structural Geology), 1990

PhD, Oregon State University (Structural Geology), 1994

Interests: Subduction earthquakes; mechanics of oblique subduction, accretion and erosion of active margins; seafloor imaging, mapping, and visualization techniques; seafloor drilling technology

Current Research: Gas-hydrate-gas-fluid-sediment dynamics using drilling, high-resolution seismic reflection, sidescan sonar, and submersible observations; active oblique faulting and block rotation in the Cascadia subduction zone; relationship of forearc deformation to earthquake potential in convergent margins; investigation of the earthquake potential of the Cascadia subduction zone; super-scale mass wasting and erosion of the southern Oregon margin.

Miguel Goni

1992. Ph.D., Oceanography, University of Washington

1986. B.S., Oceanography, University of Washington

Interests: Marine organic and stable isotope geochemistry. Sources, transport, transformations and fate of organic matter in marine and other aquatic environments. Role of organic matter in global biogeochemical cycles of major elements. Paleoceanographic and paleoclimate applications of organic biomarkers and their isotopic composition.

Current Research:Potential projects in Goni's lab include tracing the cycling of organic matter in a variety of coastal and oceanographic environments, ranging from rivers and estuaries in the Pacific Northwest and the South Atlantic Bight to the continental margins off Venezuela, Papua New Guinea and Hudson Bay. The interested student would learn to complete a variety of organic geochemical analyses, including determining the concentration and stable isotopic composition of carbon and nitrogen in water column and sediment samples. Depending on the interest of the student and the timing of the REU, there may be several possibilities to go out in the field and participate in sample collection.

Rob Holman 

 BS, Royal Military Coll, Kingston Canada (Honors Mathematics and Physics), 1972

PhD, Dalhousie University (Physical Oceanography), 1979

Research Interests: Beach processes; measurements of near-shore waves and currents; models of sandbar generation and morphology; application of remote sensing to near-shore processes, large-scale coastal behavior.
 

Current Research: Polarimetric Imaging of Nearshore Waves. The Coastal Imaging Lab has a long history of developing new methods for measuring the dynamics of beaches based on signatures from optical imagery. A recent addition to this toolbox has been the exploitation of optical polarization in images. Because the reflection of light from a wavy ocean surface introduces polarization that is tangent to the surface wave slopes, measurement of those angles of polarization allows estimation of wave field slopes which can be integrated to yield wave heights. This project will involve a mix of lab testing for performance characteristics of the camera system as well as analysis of polarimetric data from a camera deployed on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The work requires familiarity with Matlab.
 

Anthony Koppers

1993 M.Sc. in the Earth Sciences, Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

1998 Ph.D. in the Earth Sciences, Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Interests: Hotspots and their associated volcanic chains have been amongst the most convincing observations supporting the plate tectonic theory and have fundamental implications for understanding past plate motions and mantle geodynamics. My research encompasses many aspects in this broad field, ranging from 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and Sr-Nd-Pb isotope geochemistry of hotspot volcanism to the modeling of absolute plate motions and the possible motion of hotspots. It now can been shown that motions between hotspots are necessary for explaining the observed ages in seamount trails and that lithospheric extension may be important as a secondary process in other cases.

Current Research:

• Programming Earth's Chemical Differentation using TnT2000. The geochemical evolution of the Earth is determined by the differentiation of the mantle due to partial melting at hotspots, mid-oceanic ridges and island arcs, the formation of continental crust, and the recycling of oceanic and continental crust and lithosphere at subduction zones. Second order differentiation processes may include metasomatism of the mantle, alteration of the oceanic crust and chemical erosion of the continental crust. Geochemical modeling approaches tend to focus on a relatively small number of these processes and they tend to be restrictive in their model boundary conditions and in the number of parameters (elements, isotope ratios) which they consider. This incomplete geochemical modeling has significantly limited our understanding of the Earth as a dynamic and geochemical system. These limitations led to the development of the Terra Nova Toolbox (TnT2000) hoping to provide a flexible box-modeling environment for exploring both simple and sophisticated geochemical scenarios including a variety of chemical and physical processes that shape the Earth.  This toolbox is programmed in Matlab and so far has been used to explore simple geochemical scenarios for the Earth's evolution. During the REU program of 2009 we hope to expand TnT2000 to incorporate subduction zone magmatic processes (strongly influenced by significant amounts of water in the subducting slab) that act as an effective filter for the return of materials and elements to the Earth's mantle. This requires a good basic understanding of programming in Matlab in combination with course work in geochemistry and a desire for modeling large scale Earth processes. TnT2000 will be made available at http://earthref.org/tools/tnt2000/ where interested researchers, students and teachers will be able to download this tool for their projects and use in their classrooms.
  
• Exploring Seamount Morphologies using Cyberinfrastructure for Seamounts. Seamounts are prominent volcanic features on the ocean floor that provide us with important insights to geology, geochemistry, geophysics and paleoclimate. Based on satellite altimetry data it is estimated that more than 200,000 seamounts taller than 500 m exist on the ocean floors. However, most of these never have been surveyed, sampled or studied. The Seamount Catalog at http://earthref.org/databases/SC/ was established to make accessible the diverse set of seamount data that is available today, including information on their morphologies. In this online catalog each seamount is described in terms of its location, basic morphological features, the types of data available, a series of basic bathymetry maps, processed grid files and original multibeam data. The data objects are extensively described in terms of metadata allowing for searches by location (lat/lon), region name, seamount name, sample name or reference. Currently there are more than 2,000 seamounts in the data holding. During the REU program of 2009 we hope to carry out a systematic morphological analysis of this entire data holding using software already programmed in Matlab. This requires familarity with programming in Matlab, a good knowledge of working in Microsoft Excel and some course work in (marine) geology. With the results from this analysis we can now start to explore the differences and similarities in morphology for these seamounts and relate this to the volcanic process that form the seamounts, tectonic structures in the oceanic plates on top of which the seamounts are emplaced, but also to biodiversity patterns at the seamounts themselves.

Alexander Kurapov

Interests: Oceanic data assimilation, coastal ocean modeling, wind-driven circulation, internal tides, mixing on the shelf

Current Research: Data Assimilation in Shelf Circulation Models

James Lerczak

B.A., Williams College (Physics), 1988.

M.S., University of Washington (Physics), 1991.

Ph.D., Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC-San Diego (Oceanography), 2000.

Interests: Coastal physical oceanography including the study of internal tides, high-frequency internal waves, and circulation in the vicinity of fronts; estuarine oceanography including the dynamics that drive the three-dimensional circulation, the mechanisms that transport and disperse materials within estuaries, and the time response of estuaries to changes in forcing; physical/biological interactions which influence larval dispersal.

Current Research:

• Numerical modeling of the circulation within estuaries to determine how complexity in size and shape of the estuary determines the residence time of materials within the estuary and the exchange between the estuary and the open ocean.
• Numerical modeling of the circulation over intertidal flats of a river delta to determine how river flow and tides control the morphology of intertidal flats and channel networks of a river delta.
• Study the propagation and shoaling of large amplitude internal waves.  This project would include a 10-day field study of internal waves.

Ricardo Letelier

BS, Universidad de Concepcion, Chile (Marine Biology), 1988

PhD, University of Hawaii at Manoa (Oceanography), 1994

Interests: Scales of response of marine pelagic microorganisms, populations, and communities to environmental perturbations; the role of these responses on biogeochemical cycles, primary productivity, nitrogen fixation, photosynthesis, chlorophyll passive (solar-induced) fluorescence; and the physical and chemical factors controlling these processes.

Current Research: Scales of variability of phytoplankton productivity in the coastal environments; the interpretation of phytoplankton passive fluorescence as measured from space, seasonal, and long-term changes in pelagic community structure in the North Pacific subtropical gyre with emphasis in phytoplankton production.

• Phytoplankton scales of variability off the Oregon Coast
• Remote Sensing Ocean Optics
• Hawaii Ocean Time-series phytoplankton physiology and optics
• Coastal Ocean Shelf Transport (COAST)

Nick Pisias

1978. Ph.D., Oceanography, University of Rhode Island

1974. M.S., Oceanography, Oregon State University

1970. B.A., Mathematics and geology, San Francisco State University

Interests: Study of Late Cenozoic history of the ocean-climate systems as recorded in deep-sea sediments so as to better understand the nature of global climate change, marine stratigraphy and sedimentation, numerical and statistical techniques as applied to geological problems.

Current Research: Coupled ocean-continent responses to climate change through river-derived sediments on the OR-WA continental margin; climate models for millennial to glacial-interglacial intervals. (See http://mgg.coas.oregonstate.edu:16080/~andreas/Paleovar/).

Roger Samelson

BS, Stanford University (Physics), 1981

MS, Oregon State University (Mathematics), 1987

PhD, Oregon State University (Physical Oceanography), 1987

Interests: Fluid dynamics and thermodynamics of the ocean and atmosphere; coastal and arctic meteorology; coastal, mesoscale and large-scale ocean circulation; instabilities and nonlinear dynamics of geophysical fluids.

Current Research: Coastal ocean and coastal ocean-atmosphere modeling, arctic meteorology, air-sea interaction and mode water formation, instability and predictability, mathematical methods for large-scale ocean circulation theory, and the linear and nonlinear dynamics of ocean eddies and planetary waves.

Andreas Schmittner

Diploma (Physics), University of Bremen, Germany, 1996

PhD, Climate & Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Switzerland, 1999

Research Interests: Using and developing numerical (computer) models of the Earth'sclimate system in order to understand past and present changes. Interactions between the different components of the climate system such as the ocean, atmosphere, cryosphere and biosphere.

Current Research: Interactions between climate, the ocean circulation and the marine ecosystem and carbon cycle. Rapid climate change associated with reorganisation of the ocean's thermohaline circulation during the last glacial period.

Adam Schultz

BSc, Brown University (Geology, Physics, Mathematics), 1979

MA, Cambridge University (St. Edmund's College), 1995

PhD, University of Washington (Geophysics), 1986

Interests: Physical, chemical, and geomicrobiological influences on sea floor hydrothermal processes; geophysical inverse theory, image reconstruction, and time-series analysis; tectono-volcanic, solid Earth, and oceanic tidal influences on subseafloor hydrology; instrumentation development; long-term multidisciplinary ocean observations.

Current Research: Our magnetotelluric field program with EarthScope will be in high gear from June-August, so there will be ample opportunities for undergraduates to participate in visiting/setting up field sites, retrieving data, etc.
 

Kip Shearman

1999. Ph.D., Oceanography, Oregon State University

1993. B.S., Aeronautical Engineering, University of Colorado

Research Interests: My research interest is the study of physical processes in coastal ocean. Big, small, long, short, high-frequency, low-frequency, stratified, unstratified, rotating, nonrotating, forced, unforced, surface, bottom, middle – I don’t care. If it’s physics and coastal, I’m interested. I am most interested in understanding the dynamics of the evolving structure of the density field over the shelf. How it is affected by external forcing and how it in turn affects the circulation within the coastal ocean. My approach is observational, using innovative sampling techniques – such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) – coupled with modeling and analysis, to explain fundamental physical processes.

Current Research:

• Northwest Australian Shelf Dynamics Experiment.Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Surveys at the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory.
• Observations of Surface and Bottom Water Temperature on the Oregon Shelf through Industry-Academic Collaboration.
• Coastal Mixing and Optics Experiment Moored Array.

Karen Shell

PhD, University of California, San Diego (Scripps Institution of Oceanography), 2004

BS, Harvey Mudd College (physics), 1996

Research Interests: Climate dynamics; general circulation of the atmosphere; interactions between radiative transfer and the dynamics of the atmosphere and ocean; climate modeling

Current Research: Comparison of physical feedbacks (i.e., cloud feedbacks, ice-albedo feedbacks, and water vapor feedbacks) in different state-of-the-art computer models of the earth's climate

These feedbacks amplify or damp a climate response to changes in greenhouse gases or aerosols, and thus they influence the temperature change.  The feedbacks appear to depend on the model configuration (for example, the details of ocean heat uptake or transport) as well as the specific forcing applied to the system.  I have already begun these comparisons, but there is a huge amount of data available from simulations performed for the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.  An REU student could extend these comparisons to new scenarios and sets of models.  I have my own linux cluster, so there is also the potential to develop model experiments to test a climate sensitivity hypothesis.  Regardless of the project, strong computer skills are a must.  Students will need to know how to program (at least something like MATLAB) and be very comfortable in a UNIX/linux environment.

Joe Stoner

1995. Ph.D., Resources Minérales, Université du Québec à Montréal

1991. M.S., Geology, University of Florida1987. B.S., Geology, University of Florida

Interests: Sediments magnetism including paleomagnetism, environmental magnetism, geomagnetism, sedimentology, stratigraphy, paleoclimatology, paleoceanography.

Current Research: Holocene Paleo- and Environmental Magnetic Variability derived from Alaskan Fjord Sediments

This project would involve analyses of a pair of piston cores from Lynn Canal in the Gulf of Alaska, which have the potential to provide a unique look at environmental and paleomagnetic variability in the North Pacific throughout the Holocene. The two cores, EW0408 55JC and EW0408 57JC, were collected from basically the same location: one is from the middle of a sediment drift, while the other is from the perimeter. Although the cores are similar in length (~15.5 m and 18 m, respectively), preliminary radiocarbon dates indicates that 55JC extends back ~17,700 ybp, while 57JC extends back only ~1,750 ybp.  Hence, these cores provide a sedimentary record extending back to local deglaciation, paired with an ultra-high-resolution (~1cm/yr) look at the late Holocene from the same location.  We propose to have an interested undergraduate student perform point-source magnetic susceptibility measurements, and u-channel natural and artificial remnant magnetism measurements on these cores. These measurements will be used to establish the relationship between 55JC and 57JC, as well as to correlate these records to other cores in the region. Once robust chronologies have been established, the paleomagnetic directional and intensity records for the Gulf of Alaska cores can hopefully be compared to other global stacks.  Paleomagnetic variability in the North Pacific is presently poorly constrained, due to a paucity of records, and the data obtained from these cores have the potential to provide an important contribution to the understanding of global geomagnetic behavior.

Ted Strub

PhD, University of California, Davis (Atmospheric Science), 1983

Interests: Ted Strub’s research has a broad focus on the circulation and physical-biological interactions in the “Eastern Boundary Currents” of the global ocean. These are the highly productive coastal regions off the west coasts of North and South America, Europe and Africa. To investigate these large and widely separated areas, he uses a combination of satellite data, output fields from computer models and field data collected during various intensive sampling programs. Much of this effort has been concentrated on the regions off California, Oregon and Washington, in projects such as the U.S. GLOBEC NE Pacific program (see http://globec.coas.oregonstate.edu/groups/nep/). This work has been carried out with many colleagues within COAS and at other universities and Federal Agencies. See http://www.oce.orst.edu/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.display&pageID=12 for links to faculty web pages at COAS.

Ted Strub is also the Director of the Cooperative Institute for Oceanographic Satellite Studies (CIOSS, http://cioss.coas.oregonstate.edu/CIOSS/). This summer CIOSS is supporting five of the REU positions in Corvallis, for interns interested in working on projects using satellite data and output from numerical (computer) models of the circulation off Oregon, in combination with various sets of field data collected from the same locations.

Current Research: Using Satellite Data to Observe the Onset of Upwelling in the California Current

Coastal upwelling of nutrient-rich water provides the base support for the food web of the highly productive ecosystem along the U.S. West Coast. In the project, the student will use satellite data to document the development of the upwelling system during the unusually warm conditions experienced in spring-summer 2005. Satellite-derived winds quantify the forcing, while satellite-derived temperatures, sea level heights and chlorophyll concentrations show us the temporal and spatial development of the physical and biological response to the forcing. The student will use Matlab on a PC or Unix workstation to access different data sets, analyze them and plot the results.

Christoph Thomas

PhD (Dr. rer. nat.), University of Bayreuth (Micrometeorology), Bayreuth, Germany, 2005

MS (Dipl. Geooek.), University of Bayreuth (Geoecology), Bayreuth, Germany, 2001

Research Interests: Atmospheric turbulence, atmosphere-vegetation interaction, mixing in tall canopies (organised motion), transport in weak-wind stable boundary-layers, dynamics of the lower atmospheric boundary layer, trace gas exchange, ecosystem responses to climate change and feedback mechanisms, carbon-water coupling, acoustic remote sensing (SODAR-RASS), instrumentation

Current Research: Current Research - Field test and evaluation of new state-of-the-art greenhouse gas flux analyzer.

We will test a new analyzer prototype measuring the climate relevant greenhouse gases of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in the air several times a second. Measuring methane concentrations at a high frequency suitable for flux measurements is challenging and a cutting edge research topic, so be among the first to see results. In addition to evaluating sensor performance, the CO2 and CH4 emissions will be compared across contrasting ecosystems in Oregon, specifically a Douglas Fir stand in the Coast Range, a Ponderosa Pine stand East of the Cascades in the Metolius area, and potentially also in a wetland area close to Corvallis. Results will be compared to and interpreted in concert with data sampled concurrently by established analyzers, so this is a chance to collect first-hand experience with a broad range of modern environmental sensors. The work will involve traveling to field sites in Oregon, assisting in setup/maintenance/ calibration/troubleshooting of the field equipment, data analysis with existing tools for spectral and time series analysis, and contributing to the final technical report, which will be published. If you enjoy field work, can work independently or with little supervision after initial training, have basic knowledge in handling gases and electronics, and already worked with Matlab, we would love to get you involved in this exiting research project!

Current Research: The delivery and fate of particulate organic carbon on active continental margins. This research is part of a large project exploring the source-to-sink transport of particulate organic carbon along the US West Coast. The student will participate in a 12-day cruise on  the  RV Wecoma during which sediment cores (box, kasten and piston) will  be collected offshore of several major rivers from central Oregon to  central California. Image processing of digital  x-radiographs will  be used to develop a record of flood  stratigraphy over the past  several centuries that can potentially  be related to hydroclimatic  forcing (e.g., ENSO, Pacific Decadal  oscillation).