Phosphate oxygen isotopes: A proxy to link carbon capture and biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in agricultural soils.

Deploy sustainable agriculture practices by raising high quality purebred, beef shorthorn cattle for the specialized purpose of cow-calf pairing and sire production.

Doctor of Philosophy

The DENIN Environmental Fellows Program supports doctoral students carrying out environmentally relevant research at the University of Delaware. The goal of the program is to help prepare students whose scientific research and interests demonstrate a clear link to societal needs and benefits. We anticipate that, over time, DENIN Fellows will pursue diverse careers across academia and the public and private sectors and develop into the next generation of environmental leaders.

Hawaii Research & Development (R&D) Research AssistantR&D seed production nurseries spanning 3 sites on Kauai dedicated to maize production, development, trait integration and double haploids. Contributed to the management of transgenic and non-transgenic, high-value crops and implement innovative product development.

Started working as a Pollinator for 1 year, promoted to summer crew research assistant for 6 years, and worked as the research associate intern for 2 years and returned as a research assistant for 1 year. (Worked months of May- September)

Title:The fate and transport of electronic waste and degradation of products in the soil and water supplyAbstract: Approximately 40 million metric tons of electronic waste (e-waste) are produced globally each year, and on average 13 percent of that waste in weight is recycled, the rest ends up in dumpsites and landfills. This work investigated the effects of electronic waste on plants (alfalfa, radish, green beans, spring wheat and tomatoes) grown on simulated electronic dumpsites. After a short period, 5-90 days, it was observed that leached metals (Zn, Cu, Pb) and dioctyl phthalate, a plasticizer, were absorbed by plants at the production of the cotyledon. Green beans had an uptake rate of 20 ppm g-1 day-1, 1 ppm g-1 day-1 and 2 ppm g-1 day-1 for iron, zinc and copper respectively. Alfalfa exposed to 10 ppm dioctyl phthalate showed stunted growth and very distinct brown edged leaves as compared to positive control plants. These distinct color changes and stunted growth may be due to mutations caused by the uptake of dioctyl phthalate at the germination stage. Exposure of tomatoes, radish and spring wheat to 10 ppm dioctyl phthalate delayed growth and flowering production by 30% as compared to control plants.

General Chemistry

Title: Atmospheric evaporation in super-Earth exoplanet systemsAbstract: We investigate the influence of stellar activity on atmospheric heating and evaporation in four super-Earth exoplanets: HD 97658 b, GJ 1214 b, 55 Cnc e, and CoRoT-7 b. We use X-ray observations of the host stars to estimate planetary mass loss. We extracted net count rates from a soft band image, converted it to flux using PIMMS for a standard coronal model, calculated the intrinsic stellar luminosity, and estimated the current-epoch mass-loss rate and the integrated mass lost. Our aim is to determine under what circumstances current super-Earths will have experienced significant mass loss through atmospheric irradiation over the system lifetime. We hypothesize that closely-orbiting exoplanets receiving the greatest amount of high-energy stellar radiation will also tend to be sculpted into lower mass and more dense remnant cores.

Organic Chemistry