About Me

My research interests include the interactions between microbiology, organic matter chemistry, and methane emissions in northern peatlands from local to global scales. Problem solving through data analysis is one of my greatest passions, and I love a challenge.

My academic background is in peatland biogeochemistry. For my PhD project, I studied the effects of permafrost thaw, and consequent changes in hydrology and vegetation, on organic matter reactivity and greenhouse gas production in northern peatlands. My subsequent postdoctoral research examined global trends in peatland organic matter chemistry from the Arctic to the tropics.

Currently, I am focusing on interdisciplinary data management. To improve estimates of pan-Arctic methane emissions, I am maintaining an interdisciplinary, integrated Neo4j graph database with subgraphs for two projects, the IsoGenie Database and the Archaea to Atmosphere Database. These nested databases integrate microbiological, geochemical, environmental, remote sensing, and other diverse data into a single framework, which supports custom queries that explore the links between these multi-scale heterogenous data. The database framework is built with a set of open-source Python tools, which include scripts for both data import and advanced querying. Overall, this data management framework provides (i) a platform for project members to explore data across scales through the inherent relationships among data entities, (ii) a framework to consolidate and harmonize the datasets needed for modeling CH4 emissions, and (iii) a public venue that leverages the same spatially explicit, disciplinarily integrated data structure to share published datasets.