PALEOCEANOGRAPHY AT MICHIGAN STATE
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Recruiting now

Interested in joining the lab? We are currently looking to recruit undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdocs. Contact Dr. Dalton Hardisty ([email protected]) to learn more. You can learn more about the MSU Earth and Environmental Science Department via this link. Guidelines for graduate school application can be found here.

Our MSU Team


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Caption: Sampling pore waters from sediment in an anaerobic glove bag during drilling on the Baltic Sea. We'll be returning to the Baltic as part of an exciting collaboration with WHOI, URI, and IOW studying suboxic zones! 
Dr. Dalton Hardisty
Lab PI and Assistant Professor
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Postdoc: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
PhD: Earth Science, University of California, Riverside
MS: Geology, Indiana University
​BS: Environmental Science, Indiana University

​Contact: [email protected]
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Dr. Todd Lydic
Lab Manager, mass spec specialist
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PhD: Physiology, Michigan State University
BS: Biochemistry, Michigan State University
BA: Sociology, Michigan State University

Todd also manages the neighboring Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Core at Michigan State University.

Contact: [email protected]
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Alexi Schnur
PhD student

BS: Microbiology and Astronomy, University of Michigan
Contact: [email protected]

I am interested in element cycling in the modern ocean, especially that relating to iodine redox speciation, and the future implications that this type of study has on Astrobiology and planetary research.  My research focuses on constraining the drivers of reactions and processes that lead to the observed spatial variability of iodine redox species found in the modern surface ocean, through seawater analysis with spectrophotometry, ICP-MS, and MC-ICP-MS.  As reactions of ozone with iodine at the sea surface are significant sinks for tropospheric ozone, an understanding of these constraints will directly inform climatological atmospheric models of the impact of sea surface iodine concentrations on tropospheric ozone levels.
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Watts Dietrich
PhD Student

B.S. Chemistry, University of Cincinnati
M.S. Geology, University of Cincinnati


​Watts is using experimental and field constraints on carbonate diagenesis to understand the evolution of Earth's sulfur cycle over geologic time.

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Paige Kohler
PhD Student

B.S. Environmental Science, Alma College

Broadly, I am interested in the overall health of the Great Lakes and their response to environmental changes both past and present. My current research seeks to use the ancient Great Lakes to inform ongoing, anthropogenic changes. I am reconstructing the lakes' biogeochemical changes, including hypoxia and productivity using stratigraphic and geochemical analyses of sediments cores from Lakes Erie, Huron, and Superior. This long-term variability is crucial for informing and developing preservation strategies that account for both anthropogenic impacts and natural baselines in biogeochemistry, ecysystem function, and overall health of the Great Lakes.

Lab Alumni


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Dr. Janet Burke
NSF Ocean Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow
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PhD: Geology and Geophysics, Yale University
BS: Biological Sciences, Smith College

Broadly, I am interested in the response of marine organisms to environmental changes in both modern and ancient oceans. For my PhD thesis with Dr. Pincelli Hull I studied the morphology and metabolism of planktonic foraminifera in relation to fluctuations in abiotic conditions using live cultures, sedimentary assemblages, and 3D models. As part of the Hardisty Lab, I will be working to test and disentangle the potential biological and environmental factors that influence the foraminiferal I/Ca paleoredox proxy to improve its application and interpretation.

​Contact: [email protected]
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Keyi Cheng
PhD student

​MS: Geology, University of New Mexico
BS: Geochemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan

​I/Ca ratio is a potential redox indicator sensitive to oxygen changes in local ocean water. However, the iodine oxidation/reduction mechanism is not fully understood, making it hard to quantitatively reconstruct the paleoredox conditions. My research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of iodine redox reactions and the ocean budget of iodine in the modern ocean. I am also very interested in reconstructing redox states of ancient oceans using I/Ca and other proxies. 

Contact: [email protected]

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Kirsten Fentzke
MS student

​Kirsten is studying euphotic iodine cycling in the Atlantic. She recently sailed on the Atlantic Meridional Transect, where she performed incubations and collected samples.



Featured Collaborations

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Our research group is proud to have NSF-funded collaborations at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Penn State University. Maintaining links to the expertise, clean lab, multi-collecter ICP-MS instrument, and research vessel access featured at WHOI is important for our scientific success, but can also be a pivotal experience for any graduate student or postdoc joining our lab. Follow the links below to learn more about opportunities with our collaborators in the WHOI Nirvana Lab, Hansel lab in Microbial Geochemistry, Wankel Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Lab,   and Lau lab at PSU.
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