As climate change pressures biological systems toward adaptation, migration, or extinction, a comprehensive perspective on climate and ecology is necessary to prepare for the future. To this end, I look to the past and use the geologic record to constrain ecological and climate sensitivities. My research investigates the mechanisms governing climate variability across timescales and how these complex climate processes produce similarly complex ecological dynamics.

My research program combines three complementary approaches. I generate and analyze new records of past climates and ecosystems using organic biomarkers, such as isotopes of plant leaf waxes, brGDGTs, and alkenones, preserved in lake and marine sediments, alongside pollen microfossils that capture past ecological change. Using advanced climate models, I explore the fundamental processes governing oceanic and atmospheric circulation and, by comparing model outputs with proxy-based reconstructions, uncover the key drivers behind past climate variations. Finally, I harness high-throughput computing to synthesize extensive climate and ecological datasets, pairing this computational approach with novel statistical methods to scale from local to global perspectives. This interdisciplinary work sits at the intersection of (paleo)climatology, (paleo)ecology, climate dynamics, and data science.

My current work focuses on improving rainfall predictions in the southeastern United States by using the last 21,000 years to diagnose climate model biases.

EcoClimate Variability Lab Facilities

Trace 1310 - GC Isolink II - Conflo IV - Delta V Advantage

Agilent 7890A GC-FID

Dionex ASE 200 x 2

Horizon XcelVap

Fisher Scientific Isotemp Muffle Furnace

LabConco FreeZone 2.5L with Scroll Pump

All common consumables for organic geochemical processing