Research

Beginning at Hope College, I have been involved in multiple research projects. Scientific research has been invigorating, challenging, and rewarding, and I am grateful to continue this pursuit in graduate school. For a comprehensive list of my publications, here is a link to my google scholar account: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PwWox2IAAAAJ&hl=en

Environmental Chemistry Research

Colorado State University

Advisor: Dr. Thomas Borch

2021 - Present

Earth has been experiencing increased wildfire activity, warranting concern over the impact these fires will have on the environment. Starting in the summer of 2022, I have been studying the effects of wildfires on soil quality, specifically examining fire-induced changes to soil organic matter (SOM) composition and microbial composition and activity. I have conducted controlled, experimental burns with "pyrocosms" (see pictures below) to simulate wildfire burns. Using microbial amplicon (16S/ITS) sequencing and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, heterotrophic microbes (Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Protobacteria) and specific metabolites (glycine, protocatechuate, citric cycle intermediates) were enriched in burned soils, indicating that burned soils contain a variety of substrates that can support microbial activity. We also measured higher water extractable organic carbon concentrations and higher CO2 efflux in burned soils. These results demonstrate the resilience of these soils to severe burning, providing important implications for post-fire soil microbial and plant recolonization and ecosystem recovery. For more information about this project, please check out the associated 2024 publication in Environmental Science & Technology.

Since September 2024, I have been working on a project investigating how the metabolite content of soils changes across burn severity. Here, our team collected soil samples in unburned, low burn severity, and high burn severity areas within the 2024 Alexander Mountain Fire and will be determining how metabolite abundances change at different burn severities.

In February 2025, I was a part of a joint effort amongst Colorado State University, Chapman University, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Stanford University to study the chemical impacts of 2025 Los Angeles Fires. Here, we sample soil and ash from destroyed buildings to determine what organic and inorganic contaminants may remain after urban fires. We are very grateful for all the homeowners who gave us permission to sample their properties.

These projects are highly collaborative project, and I am honored to be working with soil microbiologists from Colorado State University, analytical chemists at the High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and ecologists at the U.S. Forest Service.

For more information about how wildfires impact soil chemistry, please check out this 2024 publication in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment.

Chemical Analyses:

Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
Solution-state, Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Soil Respiration Incubations
Biological Oxygen Demand Assays
Total Carbon and Total Nitrogen
Dissolved Organic Carbon and Total Dissolved Nitrogen
Soil pH

Organometallic Chemistry Research

Hope College
Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Johnson
2019-2021

Objective:

Under the guidance of Dr. Jeffery Johnson, I investigated carbon-carbon (C-C) bond activation with the goal of novel reaction development. Current organic methodology focuses almost exclusively on C-C bond formation; thus, reversing this synthetic method via C-C bond activation could diversify molecular formation and provide chemists with extraordinary synthetic flexibility. My research specifically focused on rhodium-catalyzed decarbonylation of pyridyl ketone moieties.

In lab, I performed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling and acylation reactions to synthesize the desired pyridyl ketone compounds (see right-hand reaction scheme). After identifying the presence of the desired product by utilizing TLC, GC-MS, and NMR analysis, I employed column chromatography to isolate the pyridyl ketone compounds.

In this research project, I garnered experience with standard organic chemistry techniques, thin layer chromatography, column chromatography, IR spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, gas chromatography mass spectrometry and working in a glovebox. I also presented my research at Hope College, the University of Michigan, Indiana University, and the University of Chicago.

Please check out this 2021 publication to learn more about this project.