Welcome
...to the Environmental Science and Engineering Program at the Colorado
School of Mines! Throughout this website you will find information about
what my students and I do, our cast of characters, great information about
the projects we work on, information about the amazing microbial world,
links to relevant places, research / class resources, publications, and
interesting images. Enjoy!
Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about our research,
the Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, the Colorado School
of Mines, or life in Colorado.
Education
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Colorado, Boulder 1999 - 2005 Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Laboratory of Dr. Norman R. Pace
Ph.D., Colorado School of Mines, Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, 1999
M.S., Colorado School of Mines, Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, 1994
B.A., University of California, San Diego
Curriculum Vitae available upon request
Research Interests
-Environmental Microbiology
-Molecular Microbial Ecology
-Microbiology of 'Extreme' Environments - Any Environment
-Bioremediation of Metals
-Bio / Renewable Energy
-Microbiology of Caves and Karst
The great majority of life on Earth is microbial in size, things only visible through the microscope. Almost all of these microbes are harmless to humans and in fact, provide vital ecosystem services to just about every habitat on the planet—including our own bodies. We are interested in the who, what, when, where, why and how questions about microbial life—in essence, microbial ecology. Who are they?—We are interested in the diversity of this microbial life in all three domains of life—Eucarya, Bacteria and Archaea. What do they do?—Are they interacting and / or changing their environment? What can they do for us?—Can we learn how to optimize a microbial process for bioremediation or for bioenergy? When are the microbiota of a particular environment active?—Can we manipulate that activity for stimulation in an engineered system or process? Where are they?—Is a certain microbe only found in one place or throughout the ecosystem / world? Why are they there? Why do they do what they do? This leads us to ask “how?” Do microbiota interact with their world? Do microbiota use energy flow in novel ways? Do microbiota process metal and /or heavy metals? Are these processes beneficial to humanity?.
