University of Tennessee Knoxville

Adjunct Lecturer & Research Associate, Geography

Arts and Sciences

Thesis Title: Holocene Climate and Environmental History of Laguna Saladilla, Dominican Republic

About

I have been involved in palynology and paleoenvironmental research for several years, beginning when I was an undergraduate at the University of Plymouth, UK, where I completed an undergraduate thesis on pollen evidence of Holocene vegetation change on the Colorado Plateau. I have had a variety of experiences with paleoenvironmental research in different research projects; such as, using surface pollen to examine the extent of invasive species along the Baja peninsula, Mexico; reconstructing Holocene climate changes in highland Guatemala from pollen assemblages in a peatland profile (my M.A. thesis); examining subalpine fire history from pollen and charcoal in lake cores from Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado; and testing the use of heavy liquid separation of pollen from sediments from the Manix Basin, California. My doctoral dissertation research investigated the impact of tectonic versus climatic processes on the character of Holocene lacustrine sediments from the Caribbean region using a combination of sedimentary proxy data and ground penetrating radar (GPR). I examined changes in pollen, microscopic charcoal, diatoms, and geochemistry in a sediment core from Laguna Saladilla in the Dominican Republic (19°39' N, 71°42' W). I am currently a visiting scientist for the National Park Services geologic resources division looking at the impact of climate change on coastal parks.

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