I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Biology department at the California Lutheran University. I teach upper division Microbiology and Molecular Biology. Fall 2020 was my first semester teaching, and it has been challenging and exhilarating. I have had to adapt course modalities and pedagogies to suit an online format. I am thankful for the opportunity and am learning a lot about how to teach during a pandemic.

 

I was a senior postdoctoral scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in the Ecosystem Science group where I investigated impact of tidal inundation on coastal soils. I also mentoring undergraduate students through American Geophyscial Union and was involved in outreach activities at PNNL.

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Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Biosphere 2, University of Arizona. Associated with the Landscape Evolutionary Observatory (LEO). I continue to maintain associations with LEO where I am researching microbial community dynamics in incipient soils of miniLEO and LEO hillslopes.  As a soil microbial ecologist, my focus is on studying soil microbial diversity, microbial community dynamics, and their function in our biosphere. I conducted my experiments at the Maier Lab and continue to work with an interdisciplinary team of microbiologists, hydrologists, and geochemists to understand development and assemblies of microbial life on an evolving landscape, as affected by hydrological flowpaths and geochemical weathering. 

 

Research Profile, Biosphere 2

Environmental Microbiology Group, Maier Lab

 

 

 

I graduated with a PhD in Environmental Science and Natural Resources with specialization in Soil Science from The Ohio State University in August 2015. For my PhD, under the mentorship of Dr. Warren Dick, I studied the diversity of methanotrophic bacteria in soils under varied land-use and land-management practices.

Dick Lab

 

I hold a B.S. degree in Biochemistry (2008) from University of Delhi, India and a  M.S. in Environmental Studies (2010) from The Energy and Resources Institute, India.

 

I am a microbe enthusiast who is always eager to share ideas about all things microbes! My research areas include microbial ecology, soil science, water and energy, and critical zone research. I aim to do interdisciplinary research using molecular microbial ecology tools to study and characterize microbes that have important functional roles and ecological implications in our biosphere.