Biogeochemistry and Organic Geochemistry

Departmental research seeks to constrain modern and ancient biogeochemical cycles and how the environmental distribution of carbon and nutrients are affected by natural and anthropogenic processes. Studies of organic matter distribution and composition are key to understanding environmental carbon storage, carbon fluxes, and ultimately climate change. Insights into the modern Earth system are informed by palaeoclimatological studies, which help us to predict future events by learning from changes in our Earth’s past.

Graduate Programs

The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences offers the study of Earth’s component materials, the development of its structures and surface features, the processes by which these change with time, and the origin, discovery, and protection of its resources—water, fuels, and minerals. Our students use techniques ranging from seismological and satellite-tracking investigations of crustal motions to state-of-the-art geochemical instruments.

Undergraduate Programs

A flexible program for students interested in interdisciplinary areas while maintaining emphasis in earth and environmental sciences. Students are encouraged to take electives in their field of interest, including some outside the department. These should form a coherent group and be approved by the adviser. The department adviser will consult with each student individually to arrange an optimal program in geology, hydrogeology, geochemistry, geophysics, or environmental geoscience.

Programs

We educate our students for intellectual agility.

Rensselaer offers wide-ranging instruction and opportunities for individual study. Our program includes the study of the Earth's component materials, the development of its structures and surface features, the processes by which these change with time, and the origin, discovery, and protection of its resources — water, fuels, and minerals.

News

In April the Department welcomed to their staff Dr. Xiaoqiang Li as CESIA Lab Manager.

New publication led by former postdoc, Alex Goranov, looking at variability in DOM in Lake George and its tributaries — collaboration with Darrin Fresh Water Institute (DFWI): Goranov, A.I., Swinton, M.W., Winkler, D.A., Farrell, J.L., Nierzwicki-Bauer, S.A., Wagner, S. (2024) Assessing the spatiotemporal variability of dissolved organic matter fluorescence composition in the Lake George, NY, watershed. Biogeochemistry doi:10.1007/s10533-024-01147-x  

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