Sierra Victoria Petersen
Principle Investigator
Sierra received her undergraduate degree from Caltech (Geochemistry) and her Masters/PhD from Harvard (Earth & Planetary Sciences), before coming to University of Michigan, first as a postdoc then a faculty member.
Outside of the lab, she enjoys easy-yet-delicious baking projects (aka cake mixes), beach vacations, running on dirt roads, and sharing her passion for the outdoors with her kids. She tries to keep a healthy work-life balance and encourages the same in her group members.
Alex Quizon
Graduate Student (PhD)
Alex is a 4th year PhD candidate working on calibrating the clumped isotope paleothermometer in modern marine gastropods. He has found some species that are faithful recorders of environmental conditions and others that display vital effects of various magnitudes and directions. In a second project, he is reconstructing Last Interglacial climate and seasonality up and down the US East Coast using sclerochronology in the clam Mercenaria. Together with graduate student Lucas Gomes, he is exploring the modern variation in d18Owater along the East Coast as a basis against which to interpret his paleo-d18Owater results. Alex is a recipient of the prestigious NSF GRFP.
Outside of the lab, Alex enjoys engaging with music in various capacities (e.g. piano, songwriting/production, theater), listening to podcasts about current events, and exploring different kinds of TV shows and video games.
Lucas Gomes
Graduate Student (PhD)
Lucas is a 4th year PhD candidate and recipient of the Rackham Merit Fellowship. His thesis focuses on reconstructing Plio-Pleistocene climate on the shallow Florida platform using sclerochronology and clumped isotopes. He is exploring and documenting new fossil sites, combining skills in sedimentology/stratigraphy and isotope geochemistry to produce a holistic picture of the evolution of this unique paleoenvironment. These climate records will be connected to extinction patterns to better understand the regional Plio-Pleistocene molluscan extinction. Lucas has also had a chance to do a lot of undergraduate mentoring, as the SCIPP Lab has involved 6 undergraduates in this research so far, with more on the way.
Outside of the lab, Lucas plays soccer and is getting into tea drinking.
Adriana Brown
Graduate Student (PhD)
Adriana is a 2nd year PhD student in the SCIPP Lab. She is working on reconstructing the temperature and d18Owater evolution of the Western Interior Seaway through the Cretaceous period using clumped isotopes of (mostly) oyster fossils.
Outside of the lab, Adriana can often be found biking, reading Terry Pratchett, or religiously doing the New York Times crossword.
Erin Kim
Graduate Student (MS)
Erin is a 1st year masters student in the SCIPP Lab. She will be working on reconstructing climate during the Plio-Pleistocene in the Carolinas and Virginia. This work parallels Lucas’s work down in Florida.
Outside of the lab, Erin is an avid reader and plant mom, enjoys listening to/composing music and dabbles in photography and graphic design.
Cecilie Phillips
Undergraduate
Cecilie is senior who has been part of the lab since her freshman year, when she joined through the UROP program. She is working with PhD student Alex Quizon to investigate growth shut off temperatures in the clam Mercenaria and how that shut off temperature may change in different mean climate states (MIS 5e vs MIS 5a vs today).
Outside of the lab, she spends a lot of time crocheting stuffed animals, clothes, and blankets and also enjoys hiking, climbing, and other outdoor activities.
Eric Waters
Undergraduate
Eric is a senior in the SCIPP Lab and yet another successful UROP student who stayed on in the lab beyond the first year. He started out working with PhD student Lucas Gomes to quantify predation in Plio-Pleistocene units from central Florida and investigate the spacing of ornamental ridges on the bivalve Chione sp. Now his work has expanded into a senior thesis project looking at changes in the season of juvenile growth in Chione sp.
Outside of the lab he likes going on hikes, thrift shopping, and involving himself in music (whether that be performing, listening, or going to shows).
Jon Portinga
Undergraduate
Jon is a senior who joined the lab as part of the FA23 cohort. He is writing a senior thesis on potential isotopic vital effects in scallops. He has produced subannual climate records from fossil scallops collected at our new sites in Florida.
Outside of the lab, Jon likes to hike, climb, and play any kind of sport.
Kailey Koshorek
Undergraduate
Kailey is a senior who joined the lab as part of the FA23 cohort. She is working on constructing growth curves in fossil Mercenaria to qualitatively reconstruct climate and living conditions through time in Plio-Pleistocene Florida. She is writing up a senior thesis on the morphometrics (shape) of different populations of fossil Mercenaria.
Outside of the lab, Kailey likes to play basketball and volleyball, read, go on hikes and spend time with her friends.
Yunhan Fang
Undergraduate
Yunhan is a sophomore who joined the lab as part of the FA23 cohort via the UROP program. He helped produce grain size data and a broad taxa survey using straigraphically-collected bulk samples from one of our newest Pleistocene sites in Florida (Beeline). Last summer he added isotope sampling to help constrain paleoenvironmental conditions at this site. He is now expanding his work to validate high-resolution clumped isotope sampling methods on modern Mercenaria from known growth environments for a senior thesis.
Outside of the lab, Yunhan likes to play soccer and the drum kit, read poetry, and he’s beginning to take up fencing.
Alexandra (Zandra) Curley
Undergraduate
Zandra is a sophomore who joined the lab as part of the FA23 cohort via the UROP program. She has conducted grain size analysis and a broad taxa survey using straigraphically-collected bulk samples from another one of our newest Pleistocene sites in Florida (Buck Hammock) and is in the process of adding isotopic data.
Outside of the lab, Zandra likes to spend her time hiking, reading, and discovering new music to listen to.
Harry “Trey” Topping
Undergraduate
Trey is a senior who joined the group with the Earth296 cohort (stemming from the research course). He is part of “Team clumped” working on collecting Pliocene D47 data from Florida sites using samples from the UM Museum of Paleontology.
Outside of the lab, Trey likes to spend his time hiking, golfing, weightlifting, reading environmental policy and historical nonfiction, and enjoying coffee.
Anna Salazar
Undergraduate
Anna is a junior who joined the group with the Earth296 cohort (stemming from the research course). She is part of “Team clumped” working on collecting Pliocene D47 data from Florida sites using samples from the UM Museum of Paleontology.
Outside of the lab, Anna likes spending time with friends, oil painting, and reading a good book.
Isaac Hooper
Undergraduate
Isaac is a senior who joined the group with the Earth296 cohort (stemming from the research course). He is part of “Team clumped” working on collecting Pliocene D47 data from Florida sites using samples from the UM Museum of Paleontology.
Outside of the lab, Isaac likes spending his time playing tennis, hiking, and drinking coffee.
Karina Reitz
Undergraduate
Karina is a sophomore who joined the group with the Earth296 cohort (stemming from the research course). She is part of “Team trace” working on collecting high-resolution trace element profiles through scallop and clam shells from the Plio-Pleistocene of Florida to quantify changes in nutrients and productivity.
Outside of the lab, Karina likes to paint, swim, play tennis, and spend time with friends.
Rowan Peace
Undergraduate
Rowan is a junior who joined the group with the Earth296 cohort (stemming from the research course). She is part of “Team trace” working on collecting high-resolution trace element profiles through scallop and clam shells from the Plio-Pleistocene of Florida to quantify changes in nutrients and productivity.
Outside of the lab, Rowan likes to spend her time hiking, traveling, and being a plant parent.
Emily Maliszewksi
Undergraduate
Emily is a junior who joined the group with the Earth296 cohort (stemming from the research course). Emily is part of “Team trace” working on collecting high-resolution trace element profiles through scallop and clam shells from the Plio-Pleistocene of Florida to quantify changes in nutrients and productivity.
Outside of the lab, Emily likes to spend time playing hockey or reading books.
Justin VanDeVelde
Lab Manager
Justin joined the SCIPP Lab in Spring 2022, bringing a wealth of isotope and lab manager experience to the group. He has since proved to be indispensable.
Outside of the lab, Justin enjoys hiking and scuba diving!
Alumni Members (Grad/Postdoc)
Allison N. Curley
PhD student 2019-2024
Post-lab positions: Postdoctoral research fellow with Dr. Jens Fiebig at Goethe University in Germany
Jade Z. Zhang
PhD student 2018-2023 (NSF GRFP, Rackham Merit Fellow), Postdoc 2023
Post-lab positions: Hydrologist at the USGS Carribean-Florida Water Data Science Center in Davie, FL
Julia R. Kelson
Postdoc 2019-2021, NSF PRF
Post-lab positions: Postdoctoral fellow in the IsoPaleo Lab here at UM, starting faculty position at Indiana University in 2024
You can find Julia’s personal webpage here: https://jrkelson.github.io/ OR Click here for Julia’s Google Scholar page
Matthew M. Jones
Postdoc 2019-2021
Post-lab positions: Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C., then Research Geologist at the USGS Geology, Energy, and Minerals Science Center, Reston, VA
Click here for Matt’s personal webpage or his Google Scholar page
Heidi O’Hora
Master’s Student 2019-2021
Post-lab positions: senior grant administrative associate at UT Austin Computer Sciences Department
Serena Scholz (now Serena Yang)
Master’s Student 2019-2020 through UM’s CUGS program
Undergraduate Researcher, 2016-2019
Post-lab positions: CNA Institute for Public Research, currently working towards a PhD in climate science at Yale
Kyle Meyer
PhD Student, 2014-2018
Post-lab positions: Postdoc at Portland State University
Alumni Members (Undergrad)
Daniel Wilson
Undergraduate Researcher, 2023-2024
Post-Lab position: UTEP Ramp Roads gap-year program
Darya Lollos
Undergraduate Researcher, 2022-2024, Senior Thesis 2024
Samantha Davies
Undergraduate Researcher, UROP program 2021-2022, Senior Thesis 2024
Post-Lab position: PhD student at Cornell University
Benjamin Woodmansee
Undergraduate Researcher, UROP program, 2022-2023
Sabrina Lanker
Undergraduate Researcher, UROP program, 2021-2022
Manmeet Singh
Undergraduate Researcher, UROP program, 2021-2022
Jon Hoffman
Undergraduate Researcher, 2018-2021, Senior Thesis 2021
Post-lab positions: PhD student at AMNH
Steve Wedel
Undergraduate Researcher, 2019-2020, Senior Thesis 2020
Post-lab positions: MS at UT Austin in Earth and Energy Resources
Ziwei Xiang
Undergraduate Researcher, 2019-2020
Rebecca Heaman
Undergraduate Researcher, UROP program, 2018-2019
Tiana Kilgore
Undergraduate Researcher, UROP program, 2018-2019
Liz Oliphant
Undergraduate Researcher 2016-2018, Senior Thesis 2018
Post-lab positions: Fulbright fellowship to Indonesia, MS program at Oxford (UK)
Alumni Members (Other)
Ashling Neary
Lab Manager 2019-2022
Alberto Aguilar Martinez
Lab Technician, 2018