Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Kristina Mojica
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Assistant Professor | Marine Science | Faculty Profile |
Please describe your research and goals.
My research is primarily focused on how physicochemical variability influences microbial interactions and regulates biogeochemical fluxes over broad ocean scales.
My main research goals are to:
- quantify rates of microbial mortality with special focus on how mortality pathways influences population dynamics and biogeochemical cycling;
- understand how environmental forcing (both natural and anthropogenic) influences the mortality processes; and
- implement ecological models to elucidate how (1) and (2) influence seasonal and inter-annual variability in natural microbial populations.
List the most recent (past, present or near future) projects that you are engaging
in and provide information about that project’s funding.
Most recently, I was involved in the North Atlantic Aerosol and Marine Ecosystem Study (NAAMES)1 which was a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Venture Suborbital mission focused on resolving key processes controlling ocean system function, their influences on atmospheric aerosols and clouds and their implications for climate. The NAAMES team received the 2019 NASA Group Achievement Award for their contributions to NASA’s mission and science.
1 science.larc.nasa.gov/NAAMES/
List the students that you are currently working with, as well as the projects they
are involved in.
- Kacey Lange – Is working on measuring the contribution of virus particles to the optical backscatter of the <0.2 µm fraction of seawater. (Collaboration with Dr. Xiaodong Zhang)
- Yean Das – Will be working on viral lysis of marine prokaryotes and how lytic infection influences the composition and reactivity of DOM. (Collaboration with Dr. Chris Hayes)
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