Craig Connolly
My interests focus broadly on climate change and land-ocean coupling in Arctic ecosystems at regional and global scales. Specifically, I am examining the quantities, sources, and fate of groundwater dissolved organic matter (DOM) inputs to lagoon systems along the Eastern Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast, and how anticipated warming will affect theses processes. I am also investigating patterns in fluvial concentrations and watershed yields across northern Alaska and the major Arctic drainage basins to provide tools for estimating DOM fluxes and improving our ability to develop pan-Arctic estimates of watershed export. To answer my research questions, I use a combination of concentration, isotopic (stable and radiocarbon), and optical measurements, controlled laboratory bioassays, and geospatial analysis. I am currently a PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin.
Bianca Rodriguez-Cardona
My research focuses on C and N coupling in streams across biomes. My research takes place in the Central Siberian Plateau underlain by continuous permafrost, volcanoclastic streams in the Luquillo Mountains in Puerto Rico, and headwater streams of the Lamprey River Watershed in southeastern New Hampshire. These diverse sites provide natural DOC and DIN gradients as well as different DOM sources in which I can perform nutrient manipulation experiments to directly assess the influence of DOM on N dynamics. I am currently a PhD student in the NRESS program at the University of New Hampshire.
Melishia Santiago
The main focus of my research combines the use of field measurements and satellite remote sensing to improve our understanding of biogeochemical cycles in Arctic marine environments. I am currently examining the distribution and controls on chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Pacific Arctic Region, and the biogeochemical impacts of sea ice decline in the western Arctic Ocean. As part of this ongoing research I work with the Spencer Lab on DOM optical characterization and am presently a PhD student in the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.
