Have you ever wanted to travel back to a time before humans roamed the planet, when strange plants and organisms populated the land and seas? While time travel is not possible, unique systems exist on Earth today that can provide us with a glimpse into the past. One such time-warping ecosystem exists in Fayetteville Green Lake, one of two fascinating meromictic lakes located in Green Lakes State Park, near Manlius, NY. The term “meromictic” refers to lakes in which the water separates into layers with distinct physical and chemical properties due to a lack of turnover (physical mixing of lake waters) between deep lake water and surface waters. Green Lake is meromictic due to the highly saline groundwater that flows into it at depth, preventing the lake from overturning due to density differences between heavy, saline bottom waters and light, fresh top waters. Meromictic lakes like Green Lake are extremely rare (less than 1/1000 lakes in the world!). The unique water chemistry that results from the distinct layers of lake water is thought to be similar to those of ancient oceans, making Green Lake the perfect place to investigate questions about ancient marine systems, including: 1) the potential causes of the Permian–Triassic extinction event; 2) how methane and oil bearing deposits form; and 3) the microbiology of extreme ecosystems (high sulfide, low oxygen). The EMPOWER group discussed the unique conditions found in Green Lake, including the purple sulfur bacteria that are similar to those that lived millions of years ago and the chemistry profiles that reveal high sulfur and metal concentrations at depth.

This discussion was held in preparation for the program’s upcoming field course (August 2017) during which students will have the opportunity to study this intriguing lake. By studying unique lakes such as Green Lake, scientists can travel back in time to learn how the environment responded to different conditions, and potentially apply this knowledge to how aquatic environments might be affected as the climate changes in the future.

Story submitted by Emily Baker, Changcheng Pu, and Laura DeMott

Every growing season at the mouth of large rivers, there are large areas where nothing lives. Of growing concern is eutrophication in the ocean, or ‘nutrient overload,’ in many of our nation’s waters. Excess algae grows and, as it dies and decomposes, oxygen is consumed to the point where animals can no longer live there. EMPOWER students recently discussed how scientists can better understand this phenomenon through nutrient addition experiments.

While the idea of artificially adding nutrients that can have such devastating effects might sound suspect to an environmentally concerned public, the quantity from these experiments pales in comparison to the amount coming from agriculture in the Midwest and other anthropogenic sources. By elevating nutrients like ammonium in stream channels, researchers have been better able to understand the fate and processes that control nutrient cycling in our environment. They found that nutrients may be consumed in smaller streams and never reach the ocean but that these systems cannot handle ever increasing nutrient loading.

The group began formulating how best to design their own nutrient addition experiments in preparation for a field course at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest that many of the students will be attending this summer. Although not all trainees will use these techniques in their own research, exposure to these methods and research findings left the group with a renewed interest in the complexities inherent in natural systems and the challenges studying them.

Story submitted by Nathan Chien, Emily Gaub, and Amanda Schulz

Graduate students in EMPOWER attended the 183^rd Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston in mid-February. This year’s conference theme was “Serving Society Through Science Policy” and offered a packed schedule of workshops, exhibits, panels, and career development opportunities. During the 5-day event, EMPOWER students attended scientific sessions ranging from “Accelerating Low-Carbon Innovation Through Policy” to “Supporting Silly-Sounding Science,” learned about best practices for career planning, attended a new members reception, and enjoyed “Family Science Days” in the exhibit hall.

Attending this conference was a unique opportunity for students who may usually participate in discipline-specific conferences. JR Slosson, an MS student in Earth Sciences, said “I really enjoyed learning about the importance of our role as scientists in broader legal and economic spheres and how critical it is for scientists to work across disciplines towards the creation of informed public policy.” Yige Yang, a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering, has research interests in green roofs. Her favorite session at the conference focused on sustainable cities in Europe, which challenged her to “start thinking the transportation system in the future” and inspired her to explore these ideas further with urban planning professors on campus.

EMPOWER graduate students Sara Alesi, Megan Daley, Caitlin Eger, JR Slosson, Alexa Stathis, and Yige Yang attended the AAAS Annual Meeting. Attendance at the conference was supported by an EMPOWER Professional Development Training Mini-Grant.

More information about the Seed Grant Program can be found in the “Training” section of the EMPOWER website.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a popular method for people to learn more about themselves. The MBTI tries to assess preferences in each of four dichotomies: Extraversion or Introversion; Sensing or Intuition; Thinking or Feeling; and Judging or Perceiving. Results from the assessment, which consists of a series of straightforward questions, provide a 4-letter code that describes one’s personality profile based on the interactions of these preferences.

Dr. Kate Lewis, Associate Professor in Biology, uses this assessment in her lab group to help the members work more effectively as a team. Last week, EMPOWER trainees and STEM graduate students participated in an MBTI workshop that was led by Dr. Lewis. In this event, co-sponsored by Syracuse University’s Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE), the students learned more about each of the personality types and identified what their own preferences are. Throughout the workshop, Dr. Lewis stressed that there is no ideal personality type and that the MBTI measures preferences only and does not measure trait, ability, or character (myersbriggs.org).

Overwhelmingly the students really enjoyed learning more about themselves and agreed that exercises like this can help with understanding group dynamics, which are so essential for collaborative projects. Amanda Schulz, a PhD student in Earth Sciences, said “I really enjoyed the workshop. I only wish that it had been longer than three hours!”

More information about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator can be found on their website (myersbriggs.org).

More information about Syracuse University’s Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) can be found at suwise.syr.edu

R2-D2 made his annual visit to the exhibitor’s hall at The American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Conference in December 2016. With approximately 24,000 attending, this is the largest Earth and space science meeting in the world (https://fallmeeting.agu.org/2016/). EMPOWER trainees Emily Baker, Robin Glas, and Alexa Stathis traveled to San Francisco to attend the meeting, network, and present their research.

The titles of the posters reflect the range of research topics EMPOWER trainees participate in:

Emily’s poster: The Effect of Channel Geometry and Diurnal Discharge Fluctuations on Modeled Stream Temperatures

Robin’s poster: Integrating multiple geophysical methods to quantify alpine groundwater- surface water interactions:  Cordillera Blanca, Peru

Alexa’s poster: Photolysis Kinetics of Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylenes at Ice Surfaces*

*Alexa’s participation in the AGU meeting was funded by an EMPOWER Professional Network Development Grant.

Kristy Gutchess, who is a PhD student in Earth Sciences and an EMPOWER trainee, recently learned that her proposal to study the influence of weather patterns on runoff and de-icing salt at Syracuse University was funded through the “Campus as Laboratory for Sustainability” program. Her research team includes Drs. Zunli Lu, Laura Lautz, Christa Kelleher, Don Seigel (all from Earth Sciences), Teng Zeng (from Civil & Environmental Engineering), and Stephen Shaw (from SUNY ESF).

To learn more about the “Campus as Laboratory for Sustainability Program,” please see sustainability.syr.edu.

Congratulations, Kristy!

EMPOWER faculty and graduate students are active researchers who collaborate with experts at Syracuse University and beyond. They work in a range of geographic settings and address a wide variety of research questions. Here are some highlights of recent work:

EMPOWER Program Director Laura Lautz and EMPOWER trainee Robin Glas co-authored a study on groundwater–surface water interactions in a proglacial valley in Peru. The work was published in the journal Hydrological Sciences. READ MORE

Charles Driscoll collaborated with researchers from Syracuse University, Drexel University, Boston University and Harvard University, convened by the Science Policy Exchange, to estimate the potential co-benefits to the productivity of crops and trees with U.S. coal power plant carbon standards. READ MORE

Syracuse University Magazine’s Fall/Winter 2016 issue had an article featuring Tara Kahan’s recent National Science Foundation/Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. READ MORE

Laura Lautz and Chris Scholz, along with EMPOWER’s affiliated faculty members Christa Kelleher and Laura Condon, collaborated with others in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School to secure funding to develop operational expertise in environmental monitoring and geoscience surveying by applying UAS technologies to current research projects. READ MORE

Chris Scholz and Earth Sciences graduate student Tannis McCartney publish their research findings about the evolution of the East African Rift in the Journal of Structural Geology. READ MORE

Charles Driscoll is part of a team of researchers at Hubbard Brook that have created an experimental ice storm to study the effects of ice storms on forests. READ MORE

Over 50 people gathered on Wednesday evening to celebrate the Grand Opening of the EMPOWER Collaborative Suite. Joined by the EMPOWER trainees and Leadership Team, EMPOWER Program Director and NRT PI Laura Lautz shared the goals and accomplishments of the program with university administrators, Earth Sciences faculty and staff, and the EMPOWER affiliated faculty.

Thanks for Brian Brooks and Don Torrance for the video.

Peer mentoring has positive effects on productivity, collaboration, and academic success. In EMPOWER’s last get-together of the Fall semester, trainees gathered for breakfast at the Goldstein Alumni & Faculty Center to discuss mentoring. Dr. Tara Kahan, EMPOWER faculty member and Assistant Professor of Chemistry, spoke about her experiences with a peer mentoring group. Trainees additionally had the opportunity to discuss varied aspects of the peer mentoring relationship and consider different definitions of mentoring. By identifying their own goals in graduate school and beyond, trainees created their own “mentoring maps” and set goals for enhancing their professional network.

For more information about mentoring maps, please see The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity at http://www.facultydiversity.org/.

In the wake of passing what many scientists deemed a global warming milestone, where levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceeded 400 ppm, Dr. Chris Junium from the Department of Earth Sciences at Syracuse University presented at EMPOWER’s weekly Water-Energy seminar on how we could use the geologic past to predict the future effects of our current climate crisis on the environment. As global temperatures rise, oxygen concentrations in the oceans are expected to decrease. In fact, it is predicted by 2100, most of the world’s oceans will be experiencing a significant decrease in oxygen levels. This phenomenon, known as ocean anoxia, is believed to be responsible for the mass extinction of many aquatic organisms such as fish, shellfish, coral and plants,that rely on dissolved oxygen in the ocean to survive.

Geological evidence suggests that oceanic anoxic events (OAE) have occurred millions of years ago. Junium, a sedimentary, organic, geochemist, uses this geological evidence collected from ground sediments around the world to better understand these past OAEs and their effect on the environment. In his presentation, titled “Oceanic Anoxic Events in the Geologic Past,” Junium discussed how he uses carbon and nitrogen isotopes found in sediments taken from areas that experienced OAE in the past to examine how various biogeochemical cycles, such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous cycling, were affected by these events. Nitrogen and phosphorous are essential nutrients for aquatic life and it is clear that the way they were cycled was drastically different during OAEs than most of Earth’s history. Therefore, Junium’s research provides insight into how marine food webs and marine ecology respond to OAEs. Since we are on a trajectory for more widespread OAEs, better understanding of how ecosystems were affected by these events in the past will help predict how ecosystems will be affected in the future. For more information about Junium’s research, visit http://paleoclimate.syr.edu/

Story written by Laura DeMott, Caitlin Eger, Kristina Gutchess, Changcheng Pu, and Alexa Stathis