I’ll be using molecular biological, chemical, and electrochemical techniques to study the colonization process. I'll also be working with a piece of equipment called the Sipper. It goes down on the basket of the sub and takes water samples, and is also connected to the equipment taking electrochemical and temperature data.

What questions are you trying to answer and why?

In our lab, we're interested in the ways in which microorganisms interact with their environment. We know that chemistry plays a huge role in where and how the organisms live; our goal is to find out exactly how it all works. To do this, we need to discover what types of microbes are down there, how they get energy and grow, and exactly what their chemical surroundings are made up of. Why? Because hydrothermal vent systems may have played a part in the early evolution of life on Earth. The closer we get to understanding the links between chemistry and biology, the more we can infer about that evolution. Also, in a lot of ways this research is analogous to searching for and studying life beyond Earth. Studying organisms living in some of Earth’s most extreme environments may someday help us to learn if (and how) life is functioning elsewhere.

What’s your educational background and what lured you into marine research?

I received my B.S. in marine biology from Texas A&M University. After that, I spent a few years doing aquaculture research with shrimp and cephalopods before deciding to switch to deep-sea research for my advanced degree. I think the main thing that hooked me on marine research is the vastness of the field. It’s incredibly interdisciplinary. There are so many questions to be answered and discoveries to be made.