I am fascinated by the overlap of geology and biology that is fundamental to hydrothermal vent environments. I come from a geology/environmental science background, and I study microbial ecology within hydrothermal vent chimney walls. I am interested in better understanding the mechanisms and scale of carbon cycling and other metabolic processes at hydrothermal vents. To do this, I have quantified rates of carbon fixation (which you can read about here) and investigated what the microbial communities from diffuse flow (warm, but not hot) hydrothermal vents are doing and how this activity correlates with environmental chemistry (which you can read about here). I am also very interested in microbe-mineral interactions, and I am investigating the role that mineralogy plays in microbial community structure and succession in diffuse flow environments. I hope this work increases our understanding of how biological and geological processes interact in deep sea chemosynthetic ecosystems.  

Some of the above images are a few images I took from inside the DSV Alvin in the summer of 2010.  There are also images of me next to the ROV Doc Rickets aboard MBARI's Western Flyer, working on board the R/V Atlantis, and inside the HOV Alvin.