Alumni of the Sed/Micropaleo Lab

GRADUATE ALUMNI

Kyle Olsen

Kyle Olsen

Alumnus (graduated with MS, August 2020)
Graduate Council Fellow

I just finished my Master’s degree in the Dept. of Geological Sciences at The University of Alabama, working on paleoenvironments of the Norphlet Formation in Escambia County, Alabama. I earned my BS from Texas A&M in 2016.

Here I am measuring the gamma response of a Jurassic-age carbonate deposit from South Alabama (from a rock core collected ~15,000 feet below the surface)! I am now working for an environmental company in Mobile, AL.


Lauren Parker

Lauren Parker

Alumna (graduated with MS, December 2019)
UA National Alumni Association Fellow
Vice President, UA Geology Club
UA Outstanding Senior Award in Geological Sciences, 2015

I graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor’s of Science in Geology in 2015, Cum Laude and Honors College, with minors in Mechanical Engineering and Astronomy. I started my Master’s degree in Geology at the University of Alabama in 2017, joining Dr. Totten’s research group. For my thesis, I analyzed grain size, stable isotopes, and diatoms in Weeks Bay, AL, in order to study flood events and eutrophication patterns during the Holocene.  The analysis of long-term environmental changes is used to assess paleo-flood frequency and coupled human impacts on coastal estuaries.

I am now working for an environmental company in Maryland, and enjoying lots of fieldwork!


Leah Travis Taylor

Leah Travis Taylor

Alumna (graduated with MS, August 2019)
UA McNair Fellow
UA National Alumni Association Fellow
UA Outstanding Senior Award in Geological Sciences, 2017

I am from Alexander City, Alabama. I received my Associate of Science from Southern Union State CC (2015) and a BS in Geology from the University of Alabama (2017). I just finished my MS in Geology at UA with a specialty in Paleontology and Paleoclimatology. My thesis work with Dr. Totten investigates the paleobiology of Clidastes mosasaurs, which were common swimming reptiles in the Mississippi Embayment of the Western Interior Seaway during the Cretaceous. I analyzed isotopes in their teeth to reconstruct habitat preferences. I am now working on my PhD with Dr. Martin Medina at UMass-Amherst on Holocene paleoclimate of the Caribbean from cave records!


Adlai Fonseca

Adlai Fonseca

Alumnus (graduated with MS August, 2019)

I recently finished my Master’s degree in the Dept. of Geological Sciences at The University of Alabama, in which I reconstructed sea ice and glacial history of Collins Bay, Antarctica through sedimentology, stable isotopes, and diatom assemblages in offshore sediment cores. Through this study, we hope to understand how glaciers have responded over the last 12,000 years to climatic and oceanographic variations in the western Antarctic Peninsula. Here I am counting diatoms from Antarctica, and dreaming of developing computer programs to help me do it!


UNDERGRADUATE ALUMNI

Jazmin Simons

Environmental Science BS, 2023

Jazmin Simons

Elizabeth Favor

Marine Science Biology BS, 2023
Septima Cecilia Smith Award Recipient in Marine Science, 2023

Elizabeth Favor

Jess Meyer

Marine Science Biology BS, 2022

Jess Meyer

Maddie Cherry

Marine Science Biology BS, 2022

Ro Smyth

Environmental Science BS, minor in GIS, 2021

Will Farris and Sasha Epps

Will Farris

Marine Science Biology BS, 2022

Sasha Epps

Geology BS, 2022


Emma Tegert

Emma Tegert

2020 Outstanding Rising Junior, 2021 Outstanding Rising Senior, Graduated with BS 2022

I am fascinated by foraminifera and have been picking their tiny shells (tests) to help the Antarctic THOR research team. I also worked in the Alabama Stable Isotope Lab.

Here I am picking forams for radiocarbon dating!


Robert Michael Comas

Robert Michael Comas

Alumnus (graduated with BS in Environmental Science, May 2020)

I worked on marine sediment cores offshore the Abbot Ice Shelf, Antarctica for my independent research project during my senior year at UA. I got so hooked that I have now joined Dr. Julia Wellner at the University of Houston to continue working on glacial history of the Amundsen Sea for my PhD!

Here I am picking foraminifera from offshore the Abbot Ice Shelf!


Joel Sobrado

Joel Sobrado

Alumnus (graduated with BSG, December 2019)
US Army (ret.)

I studied past nutrient flux from carbon and nitrogen isotopes in Mobile Bay, AL as part of my independent research work in Geological Sciences. This will help us understand past conditions of Mobile Bay before European settlement, so that we can understand the natural state of the bay and help restoration efforts. I am now working for an environmental company in Arizona.

Here I am sampling a core from Mobile Bay!


FORMER STUDENTS

Victoria Rios Fitzgerald

Victoria Rios Fitzgerald

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow

After a career in the Army (2009-2015), I returned to graduate school to pursue a career in the geosciences, starting at KState Geology. I came to work with Dr. Totten at Alabama in January 2019 and quickly embarked on a 2-month research expedition to study Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration Thwaites Offshore Research Team. Here I am in front of Thwaites Glacier!


Asmara Lehrmann

Asmara Lehrmann

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
UA Graduate Research Council Fellow

I worked with the Thwaites Offshore Research Team as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration funded by NSF & NERC. I used foraminifera microfossil assemblages to reconstruct past changes in the ocean seaward of Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica.