Katherine Duchesneau, PhD student
I am a PhD student in the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech. My dissertation research closely couples biogeochemistry with metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to elucidate the impacts of climate change on soil microbial communities that play an important role in greenhouse gas production and the global carbon cycle. Over the long term, I plan to pursue a career in academia, generating fundamental research that drives the development of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. I strongly believe that substantive solutions for sustainability issues will only be achieved through multi-disciplinary and diverse collaborations that bring together scientists, policymakers, and the public. Before coming to Georgia Tech, I completed a MSc at Queen’s University with Dr. Robert Colautti and Dr. Pedro Antunes researching the effects of Alliaria petiolata invasion on soil microbial communities. I also hold a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology, specializing in plant biology, from McGill University.
Jose Luis Rolando, PhD student
BS Biology. 2013. UNALM, Lima, Peru
MS Agroecology. 2016. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
My broad research interest is in understanding the interaction of soil/sediment biogeochemistry and plant-microbial interaction in the root zone of plant species. My goal is to understand how this interaction affects plant and ecosystem health. The relevance of my research lies in understanding the mechanisms by which the rhizosphere and root microbiomes could potentially be engineered to restore degraded or lost ecosystems. Specifically, I am studying a natural multilevel stress gradient in salt-marsh wetland as an in-situ laboratory to investigate the relationship between redox potential, biogeochemical gradients, and plant ecophysiological performance with microbial structural and functional diversity of sediment and root-associated microbiomes.
I have previously worked on the ecophysiology of water stress tolerance in potato. My MS thesis assessed the impact of agricultural land-use change on soil fertility, nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration in high-Andean natural grassland ecosystems.
As a good Peruvian I am passionate about food and soccer. I also enjoy music and movies in my free time.
Tianze Song, PhD student
2012-2016 BS Fudan University, Shanghai
2016- present PhD student at Georgia Tech
I am interested in the pattern of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from wetlands! The objective of my study is to investigate microbially mediated GHG emission and its dependence on temperature and substrate availability in anoxic peat and porewater from a Sphagnum-dominated bog. By measuring GHG production, organic substrates and looking into the microbial community composition, we have found out that 1) GHG production is becoming more and more methanogenic, 2) methane production is not stimulated by classic substrates and 3) that the richness of microbial communities decrease with temperature. I am also trying to apply omics-based method to further explaining the metabolic potential and activity of methanogens and other microbes in the anaerobic food web.
When I was an undergraduate, I have been working with Dr. Yahai Lu in Peking University. I studied Direct interspecies electrons transfer (DIET) between methanogens and syntrophs, which use nanowires to transfer electrons directly instead of using electron carrier like hydrogen or formate.
Katya Garcia, MS student
Katya’s research focuses on the isolation and culturing of potential symbiotic microbes that are found inside the roots of the smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora. S. alterniflora is found in intertidal wetlands, such as the salt marshes along the Georgia coastline and along the rest of the East coast. My goal is to characterize the composition and establish pure cultures of the microbes within the root to further understand the nutrient cycling interactions that occur between the microbes and the plants.
Yutong Liu, MS student
This is Yutong Liu, born in Qingdao, China. Master student in Environmental Engineering. My research studies peatland anaerobic microorganisms. I am interested in how microbial metabolism degrades different carbon substrates at contrasting temperatures in this nutrient poor environment. Especially methane, a greenhouse gas with much stronger effect than carbon dioxide, is largely produced from wetlands such as peatland. Therefore, one of our goal is to figure out methane production framework in the peatland and even explore certain ideas to control this process to avoid serious global warming in the future. Besides that, I have been working on isolating interesting microorganisms, such as different types of methanogens, acidotrophic microorganisms and so on.
I am a big basketball fan (GO HAWKS!!!), also I like to watch many types of sports such as soccer, volleyball, tennis, swimming and so on. I travel pretty much every vacation. I love to be in a new place, get in touch with people from somewhere else.
You must be logged in to post a comment.