Biogeochemistry

Biogeochemistry

Photo of Elsie Sunderland

Elsie Sunderland

Fred Kavli Professor of Environmental Chemistry
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences

Research in the Sunderland Lab focuses on how biogeochemical processes affect the fate, transport and food web bioaccumulation of trace metals and organic chemicals. Her group develops and applies models at a variety of scales ranging from ecosystems and ocean basins (e.g., the Gulf of Maine, the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans) to global applications to characterize how changes in climate and emissions affect human and ecological health, and the potential impacts of regulatory activities. Her group also makes key measurements of chemical concentrations and reaction rates in environmental samples (natural waters, sediments, and aquatic biota) and humans (hair, blood) to parameterize and evaluate environmental models.

Ongoing research is elucidating the biogeochemical cycling of compounds with contrasting physical and chemical properties that can be used to obtain insights into the varying exposure pathways and environmental lifetimes for industrial chemicals. The innovation in this work is to quantitatively analyze the entire exposure pathway for these compounds to identify their properties in air and water (e.g., stability in the atmosphere, photodegradation in water, environmental partitioning behavior) that enhance chemical persistence and ultimate accumulation in biota.

Assistant: Robert Stanhope

Pierce Hall 127
p: (617) 496-0858
Ann Pearson

Ann Pearson

PVK Professor of Arts and Sciences
Murray and Martha Ross Professor of Environmental Sciences
Head Tutor

Ann Pearson is the Murray and Martha Ross Professor of Environmental Sciences. Her research focuses on applications of analytical chemistry, isotope geochemistry, and molecular biology to biochemical oceanography and Earth history. 

Through study of the “how, when, and why” of microbial processes, her work yields insight about environmental conditions on Earth today, in the past, and about potential human impacts on our future.  Recent projects have focused on the carbon and nitrogen cycles and on pathways of lipid biosynthesis.

Pearson received a Fellowship for Science and Engineering from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation in 2004, a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship in 2009, and was named a Marine Microbiology Initiative Investigator of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in 2012. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, where she was awarded the C. G. Rossby Award for Best Dissertation in the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate; and a B.A. in Chemistry from Oberlin College.

Research Group Coordinator: Priya Putta

EPS
20 Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Office location: Geo Museum, Room 362
p: 617-384-8392, f: 617-495-8839
Daniel Schrag

Daniel Schrag

Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology
Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering
Co-Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program

 

Daniel P. Schrag is the Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology, Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, and Co-Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program.

Schrag studies climate and climate change over the broadest range of Earth history. He is particularly interested in how information on climate change from the geologic past can lead to better understanding of anthropogenic climate change in the future. In addition to his work on geochemistry and climatology, Schrag studies energy technology and policy, including carbon capture and storage and low-carbon synthetic fuels.

From 2009-2017, Schrag served on  President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.  Among various honors, he is the recipient of the James B. Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union and a MacArthur Fellowship. Schrag earned a B.S. in geology and geophysics and political science from Yale University and his Ph.D. in geology from the University of California at Berkeley. He came to Harvard in 1997 after teaching at Princeton.

Geochemical oceanography, paleoclimatology, stable isotope geochemistry.

Assistant: Cayla Jett

Museum of Comparative Zoology, Room 433F
26 Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: (617) 495-7676, f: (617) 496-0425
David  Johnston

David Johnston

Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Director of Graduate Studies

Isotope geochemistry and historical geobiology. Re-animating ancient ecosystems and ocean chemistry using stable isotope systems, chemical speciation techniques, modern microbial experiments (for calibration) and theoretical considerations.

Research Group Coordinator: Mallory Bradbury

EPS
20 Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Office Location: Geo Mus 363
p: 617-496-5024 f: 617-384-7396

Reginald A. Daly Postdoctoral Research Fellowship - Accepting Applications

October 10, 2023

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences 
Harvard University 
Reginald A. Daly Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 


The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University invites applicants for the Reginald A. Daly Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.  

The Department seeks candidates in the broad field of Earth and Planetary Sciences including but not limited to geology, geochemistry, geobiology, geodynamics, petrology,...

Read more about Reginald A. Daly Postdoctoral Research Fellowship - Accepting Applications
2023 Sep 18

EPS Colloquium - Lucas Vargas Zeppetello, Harvard University

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Do stomata respond to variations in atmospheric humidity?

A growing literature argues that ecosystem-scale evapotranspiration is more sensitive to drying of the atmosphere because of stomatal regulation by plants than to reductions in surface soil moisture. Past studies analyzed observations, for which it is difficult to conclusively control for potential relations between plant physiology, measurable state variables like vapor pressure deficit (VPD) or soil moisture, and the ecosystem-scale water flux. Here, we analyze natural mechanism-denial experiments at non-vegetated...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Lucas Vargas Zeppetello, Harvard University
2023 Oct 10

EPS Colloquium - Eve-Lyn Hinckley, University of Colorado Boulder

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

From Early Earth to Acid Rain and Agriculture: A Broad Look at the Changing Global Sulfur Cycle

Sulfur (S) is a key component of life and an element that has been dramatically changed by human industrial activities, including mining and fossil fuel combustion. Today, the nature of how humans alter the global S cycle is changing. As atmospheric S deposition has declined in response to air quality regulations in the United States and Europe, there has been an increase in S fertilizer applications reported in many large-scale regional crop systems. In addition, intensification...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Eve-Lyn Hinckley, University of Colorado Boulder
2023 Nov 06

EPS Colloquium - Ruby Fu, California Institute of Technology

12:00pm

The role of meltwater in reshaping the structures of icy porous media

Icy porous materials such as snow or firn are ubiquitous in both Earth and planetary settings. Their microstructures (e.g., porosity) play an important role in dictating the reflectivity, fluid storage capacity, thermal conductivity, and mechanical properties of the larger-scale systems. Thus, understanding the complex physics that control the microstructure evolution of icy porous media is an important component in creating robust predictions of Earth’s cryosphere in response to climate warming, and in...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Ruby Fu, California Institute of Technology
2022 Apr 11

EPS Colloquium - Dr. Sarah Janssen, USGS, Research Chemist

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Talk Title:  From Microbial to Global: What Mercury Stable Isotopes Can Tell us about Mercury Bioaccumulation

Abstract:  Mercury (Hg) stable isotopes have become a standard approach to study Hg sources and processes in the environment. Despite the power of these tools, applying Hg isotopes to understand source to receptor relationships can be difficult due to the myriad of...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Dr. Sarah Janssen, USGS, Research Chemist
Jenan Kharbush

Jenan Kharbush

Associate
Pearson Group

Jenan is a microbial biogeochemist and oceanographer interested in the important connections between microbial ecology and marine biogeochemical cycling.

Originally from Wisconsin, Jenan obtained a B.A. in biology and chemistry from Ripon College in Ripon, WI. Subsequently she earned her PhD from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, CA, studying chemical oceanography in the lab of Dr. Lihini Aluwihare. Her thesis research focused on the use of molecular signatures to investigate microbial metabolic diversity and function in marine environments, and specifically targeted two important classes of microbial lipid biomarkers: bacterial hopanoids and intact polar diacylglycerols.... Read more about Jenan Kharbush

Geobiology and Biogeochemistry

Low-temperature geochemistry enlists a wide range of traditional scientific disciplines (e.g. chemistry, biology, geology) to address questions involving Earth surface processes, modern climate studies, deep time, and many more.  At Harvard and under this heading, our department has a particular interest in the study of Earth history. Often termed Geobiology, our strengths include the study of paleontology, sedimentology, and biogeochemistry, all of which requires a truly interdisciplinary approach to science.

Faculty and their research interests:

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