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Caroline A. Masiello

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Caroline A. Masiello
AwardsGeological Society of America Fellow
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of California, Irvine (M.S., Ph.D.)
ThesisRadiocarbon measurements of black carbon in sediments and a small river (1999)
Academic work
DisciplineBiogeochemistry
InstitutionsRice University
Websitehttps://www.masiellolab.org/

Caroline Masiello is a biogeochemist who develops tools to better understand the cycling and fate of globally relevant elemental cycles. She is a professor at Rice University in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences and holds joint appointments in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments.[1] Masiello was elected as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2017.[2] She currently leads an interdisciplinary team of scientists who are developing microbial sensors for earth system science.[3]

Early life and education

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Masiello moved several times as a child, attending high school in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Here she attended the Pennsylvania's Governor's School for Sciences. She majored in Physics and Math at Earlham College, and graduated with honors in 1991. She went onto earn a Master of Science in Environmental Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1993 and a Master of Science in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine in 1996. While at UC-Irvine Masiello worked with Ellen R.M. Druffel, developing biogeochemical tools to examine carbon pools.[4][5] Her thesis, Radiocarbon measurements of black carbon in sediments of a small river, examined the temporal shifts of the particulate and dissolved carbon exported from the Santa Clara River, CA. using Δ14C, earning her a Ph.D. in Earth System Science from UC-Irvine in 1999.[6]

Career and research

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After her graduate studies, Masiello worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (1999-2002) and with the Geography Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara (2002-2004). She was appointed to the faculty at Rice University in 2004 where she serves as a member of the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences.

Masiello's research focuses on developing tools that allow her to understand how elements are cycling around the planet, this includes tools that track how cells communicate to one another (e.g.[7][8]) to others that allow us to follow organic carbon pools from the atmosphere to mountain slopes to the ocean (eg.[9][5][10]). In particular, her group focuses on how carbon is stored, transformed, and transported in and through soils, rivers, and oceans; thus it has contributed to basic and applied research in the fields of organic geochemistry and biogeochemistry. In particular her work has advanced our knowledge of black carbon (and biochar) within both aquatic and terrestrial environments (e.g.[5][10][11]). For her “outstanding contributions into understanding the role of organic carbon in soils across Earth’s surface, which impacts a wide range of geoscience and other fields, such as agriculture and climate change” she was recognized as a Fellow by the Geological Society of America in 2017.[12]

Masiello currently leads a team of scientists, including biochemist Jonathan Silberg and microbiologist Matthew Bennett, working to develop microbial biosensors that will help us improve our ability to manage our landscape to preserve and promote ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and nitrate removal by alerting us to key biogeochemical processes.[3][13]

Masiello's work has garnered support from a number of funding sources, including the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, W.M. Keck Foundation, and more (e.g.[14][15]).

Awards

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Outreach

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Masiello merges her research with teaching and outreach. Her lab hosts K-12 teachers from local Houston schools, working collaboratively with them, to develop earth science curricular materials.[17][6]

References

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  1. ^ "Rice Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences |". earthscience.rice.edu. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  2. ^ a b Inc., Advanced Solutions International. "GSA Fellowship". www.geosociety.org. Retrieved 2018-09-16. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ a b "Gas sensors promise advances in Earth science". news.rice.edu. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  4. ^ Masiello, Caroline A.; Druffel, Ellen R. M. (June 2001). "Carbon isotope geochemistry of the Santa Clara River". Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 15 (2): 407–416. Bibcode:2001GBioC..15..407M. doi:10.1029/2000gb001290. ISSN 0886-6236. S2CID 59055901.
  5. ^ a b c Masiello, C. A.; Druffel, E. R. M. (1998-06-19). "Black Carbon in Deep-Sea Sediments". Science. 280 (5371): 1911–1913. Bibcode:1998Sci...280.1911M. doi:10.1126/science.280.5371.1911. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 9632383. S2CID 43531334.
  6. ^ a b "Masiello Lab website".
  7. ^ LeCroy, Chase; Masiello, Caroline A.; Rudgers, Jennifer A.; Hockaday, William C.; Silberg, Jonathan J. (March 2013). "Nitrogen, biochar, and mycorrhizae: Alteration of the symbiosis and oxidation of the char surface" (PDF). Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 58: 248–254. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2012.11.023. hdl:1911/76295. ISSN 0038-0717.
  8. ^ Masiello, Caroline A.; Chen, Ye; Gao, Xiaodong; Liu, Shirley; Cheng, Hsiao-Ying; Bennett, Matthew R.; Rudgers, Jennifer A.; Wagner, Daniel S.; Zygourakis, Kyriacos (2013-09-25). "Biochar and Microbial Signaling: Production Conditions Determine Effects on Microbial Communication". Environmental Science & Technology. 47 (20): 11496–11503. Bibcode:2013EnST...4711496M. doi:10.1021/es401458s. ISSN 0013-936X. PMC 3897159. PMID 24066613.
  9. ^ Hammes, Karen; Schmidt, Michael W. I.; Smernik, Ronald J.; Currie, Lloyd A.; Ball, William P.; Nguyen, Thanh H.; Louchouarn, Patrick; Houel, Stephane; Gustafsson, Örjan (2007-08-31). "Comparison of quantification methods to measure fire-derived (black/elemental) carbon in soils and sediments using reference materials from soil, water, sediment and the atmosphere". Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 21 (3): n/a. Bibcode:2007GBioC..21.3016H. doi:10.1029/2006gb002914. hdl:10342/4357. ISSN 0886-6236. S2CID 9318872.
  10. ^ a b Baldock, J.A.; Masiello, C.A.; Gélinas, Y.; Hedges, J.I. (December 2004). "Cycling and composition of organic matter in terrestrial and marine ecosystems". Marine Chemistry. 92 (1–4): 39–64. Bibcode:2004MarCh..92...39B. doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2004.06.016. ISSN 0304-4203.
  11. ^ Lehmann, Johannes; Rillig, Matthias C.; Thies, Janice; Masiello, Caroline A.; Hockaday, William C.; Crowley, David (September 2011). "Biochar effects on soil biota – A review". Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 43 (9): 1812–1836. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2011.04.022. ISSN 0038-0717.
  12. ^ "i1052-5173-27-7". www.geosociety.org. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
  13. ^ Cheng, Hsiao-Ying; Masiello, Caroline A.; Bennett, George N.; Silberg, Jonathan J. (August 2016). "Volatile Gas Production by Methyl Halide Transferase: An In Situ Reporter Of Microbial Gene Expression In Soil". Environmental Science & Technology. 50 (16): 8750–8759. Bibcode:2016EnST...50.8750C. doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b01415. ISSN 0013-936X. PMID 27415416.
  14. ^ "NSF Award Search: Award#0445282 - Measuring the Oxidative Ratio of the Terrestrial Biosphere". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  15. ^ "NSF Award Search: Award#0614524 - The Effects of Land Use Change on the Oxidative Ratio of the Terrestrial Biosphere". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  16. ^ "Alumni Hall of Fame | UCI".
  17. ^ "Masiello elected fellow of the Geological Society of America". news.rice.edu. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
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