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I am a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley, working between Plant & Microbial Biology and Earth & Planetary Sciences departments, with an affiliation at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Starting in 2026, I will continue this work as an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago in their Department of Geophysical Sciences. My research bridges organic geochemistry, molecular biology, and soil ecology to understand complex organic molecules in modern, geological, and extraterrestrial contexts.

At Caltech, my doctoral work developed methods to analyze intramolecular isotopic compositions of organic compounds, providing insights into their abiotic/prebiotic formation. A key achievement was developing a technique to measure isotopic compositions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in samples from the Ryugu asteroid (collected by the Japanese Hayabusa2 mission), suggesting these abundant galactic molecules form through low-temperature interstellar reactions.

My current research focuses on mechanisms driving both formation and breakdown of complex organic molecules in modern ecosystems, particularly relevant to climate change. I study how microbial and abiotic processes degrade plant organic matter in soils—a critical component of the global carbon budget. This work combines my expertise in isotope geochemistry with new training in molecular biology and microbial ecology. By integrating plant metabolic engineering with my interdisciplinary background, I aim to better understand the biogeochemical cycles most directly impacting climate change.

February 2025