APPLY NOW to join the second cohort of BioGeoSCAPES Fellows!
We are excited to announce the launch of a second BioGeoSCAPES Fellows cohort funded by the NSF AccelNet award! This program brings together an international, interdisciplinary cohort of early career researchers (postdocs and senior graduate students) working in the areas of ocean metabolism, biogeochemical cycling, biological oceanography, chemical oceanography, and marine microbiology. We encourage applicants from both experimental and modeling backgrounds.
Each Fellow will each receive a professional development award that can be used for travel related to laboratory exchanges, courses, workshops or conferences. Fellows will participate in monthly networking events for at least one year, as well as an in-person workshop in summer or fall 2025. Postdoctoral researchers and senior graduate students from any nation who are working on BioGeoSCAPES-relevant research are eligible to apply.
Application requirements: Fill out application (below) and send abbreviated (2-page) CV to info@biogeoscapes.org. Applications are due June 15, 2024. Applicants will be informed by August, and cohort activities will begin September, 2024. Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Applicant’s readiness level to benefit from professional development activities of the Fellows Program
- Quality, novelty, and relevance (to BioGeoSCAPES mission) of applicant’s research activities to date
- Applicant’s authentic experience and/or interest in interdisciplinary research endeavors
- Applicant’s leadership experience and/or potential to help advance the BioGeoSCAPES mission
2023-2024 BioGeoSCAPES Fellows
Sort by Nation:
Kenya
Dr. Preston Akenga
Dr. Preston Akenga is a Tutorial Fellow at Kisii University, Kenya. He obtained his PhD in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Plymouth, UK. His research is in the occurrence and distribution of low molecular amines (mono-, di- and tri-methylamines), which are volatile organic nitrogen-containing molecules, in marine environments.
Denmark
Dr. Meriel J. Bittner
Meriel J. Bittner is a PostDoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, combining chemical and molecular microbial tools to explore marine microorganisms and their impact on biogeochemical cycles. Currently, she is studying the effects of B vitamins as micronutrients on the marine ecosystem. Meriel recently finished her PhD at the University of Copenhagen, focused on the dynamics of vitamin B1 in coastal waters. Previously, she obtained a MSc degree in Ecology and Ecosystems at the University of Vienna studying the deep sea. Her research interests include marine biogeochemistry and microbiology.
Norway
Michael Dills
I am a PhD candidate at the University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway. As a researcher I try to work across the fields of ecology and molecular biology. This has led me to study the ecology of Arctic marine diatoms, methane oxidizing bacteria, and their associated microbial communities, with the goal of bridging genotypic and phenotypic data to understand interactions at a dynamic level. My life in Tromsø includes all the perks and pitfalls of life above the Arctic circle and affords me the opportunity to enjoy its varied seasons and unique nature.
France
Dr. Emile Faure
I am a microbial ecologist willing to gain knowledge on the factors that shape planktonic diversity, and their subsequent impact on biogeochemistry and global climate. My work is mainly focused on meta-omics data from large scale oceanographic cruises, using statistical models to detect functional and taxonomic patterns across microbial communities, and linking them with biogeochemical context. I currently work as a postdoctoral researcher in the ecology of marine plankton group at Roscoff’s biological station, in France.
United States
Dr. Edgart Flores
Edgart Flores, holding a PhD in Oceanography from the University of Concepción, Chile, specialized in studying microbial communities and organic matter origins in the deep Southeastern Pacific Ocean, employing lipid membranes. His research extended to understanding microorganisms' adaptations to extreme conditions in the hadal environment, marked by frigid temperatures and high pressures. As part of the NSF-funded "MIcrobial Lipidomics in Changing Oceans" (MILCO) project, Edgart continues his postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado Boulder. His focus now shifts to investigating lipid remodeling in microorganisms as they respond to shifting oceanic conditions.
Israel
Dr. Coco Koedooder
I'm a marine microbiologist specialised in iron metabolism. I use molecular tools and techniques (e.g. metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, gene knockouts and bioreporters) to explore the physiological and adaptive response of marine bacteria to iron and am fascinated by the dynamic nature of their plasticity.
United States
Arianna Krinos
Arianna Krinos is a final-year PhD candidate in Biological Oceanography in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program. Her primary area of research emphasis is protistan physiology and ecology. To understand protists, she uses modeling techniques (allocation modeling and ecosystem modeling, e.g. the Darwin-MITgcm model), physiology experiments, and bioinformatics. She is particularly interested in how protistan genetic diversity determines their ecosystem roles. She is currently working on projects on strain diversity in the haptophyte Emiliania huxleyi and improving the accuracy of taxonomic annotation in meta-omic datasets. Arianna is committed to education and sees her teaching and mentoring equal in importance to her research.
United States
Dr. Scott McCain
I am a postdoctoral fellow with Gene-Wei Li and Mick Follows at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I am currently working on estimating rates using gene expression data in microbes. I primarily use a combination of in situ observations, mathematical modelling, and experiments with model bacteria. More broadly, I am interested in connecting processes at the level of gene expression to the ecology of microbes in complex communities.
Brazil
Dr. Thiago Monteiro
I am an Oceanographer with MSc. and PhD in Physical, Chemical and Geological Oceanography. Currently, I am a researcher in the CARBON Team research group, at the Laboratory for Ocean and Climate Studies (LEOC/FURG - Brazil), working with carbon cycle, marine carbonate system and biogeochemistry in Antarctic, tropical and estuarine environments. I collaborate on the project MARES, which aims to disseminate knowledge of oceanographic and Antarctic studies to civil society in general. I am an enthusiast of interdisciplinary studies, so I am very interested in building collaborations that can allow us to study marine environments in different ways.
United States
Dr. Daniel Muratore
Daniel Muratore is a Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. Muratore leverages field observational, statistical, and theoretical modeling to understand spatiotemporal patterns in ocean biogeochemistry and the eco-evolutionary dynamics underpinning them. In particular, Muratore is interested in the role of viruses in modulating biogeochemical stocks and rates in diverse ecosystem contexts across the open ocean. Muratore hopes to develop eco-evolutionary theory synthesizing the flows of matter, energy, and information in ocean microbial ecosystems.
France
Dr. Camille Richon
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at LOCEAN in Paris. I received my PhD in 2017 from the University Paris-Saclay, where I studied the impacts of aerosol deposition on the Mediterranean Sea biogeochemistry. I then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Liverpool, where I worked on trace metal biogeochemical cycles at the global scale. I was also awarded an international Postdoctoral Fellowship to work on microplastics distribution and interactions with zooplankton in the global ocean. I am currently working on zooplankton trait diversity in biogeochemical models, and am particularly interested in understanding how plankton respond to the multiple threats posed by anthropogenic impacts on ocean ecosystems.