Dr. Elizabeth Thomas
she/her
ekthomas at buffalo dot edu
Associate Professor
Organic & Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Lab Director
Paleoclimate Lab Co-Director
Earth Sciences Department

PhD, Brown University, 2014
NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellow, 2014-2016, Castañeda lab, UMass Amherst
National Science Foundation CAREER Awardee 2021
Fulbright Scholar, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway, 2022-2023

Nancy Leon
she/her
nleon at buffalo dot edu
Organic & Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Lab Manager
Geology Department

BS, Cairo University, Egypt

Dr. Sudip Acharya
he/him
sudipach at buffalo dot edu
Postdoctoral Fellow, GRate Project

Reconstruction of Holocene hydroclimate on Greenland

Sudip's Google Scholar

PhD, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, 2024

Dr. Samuel Mark
he/him
szmark at buffalo dot edu
NSF OPP Postdoctoral Fellow

Assessing the role of permafrost thaw in atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions since the Last Glacial Maximum

PhD Geology, University of Pittsburgh, 2023

Dr. Gerard Otiniano
he/him
gerardot at buffalo dot edu
Postdoctoral Fellow, Rapid Arctic Warming Project

Quantifying Arctic water cycle change during rapid warming events of the past 15,000 years

PhD Geology, University of Toronto, 2023

JM Aguilar
he/him
jnaguila at buffalo dot edu
PhD Candidate, UB Chemistry

Reconstructing paleoclimate and environment of ice-free Greenland using organic geochemistry of the sediments from beneath the Camp Century drill core, northwestern Greenland

Leone Jacobson
she/her
leonejac at buffalo dot edu
MS 2027

Water cycle response to Holocene and modern rapid warming events in Western New York

Leone's Linkedin

Sophia Licata
she/her
salicata at buffalo dot edu
MS 2027

Water cycle response to Holocene and modern rapid warming events in Southeast Alaska

Rebecca Topness
she/her
rgtopnes at buffalo dot edu
PhD Candidate

Lake proxy system modeling and water cycle reconstructions of rapid warming events in the Great Lakes region

Rebecca's Linkedin

Rebecca's website

Undergraduate researchers

Eriyon Cowles
he/him
eriyonco at buffalo dot edu
Geological Sciences BS

Paleoclimate of southeast Alaska

Andrew Cuzzacrea
he/him
adcuzzac at buffalo dot edu
Geological Sciences BS

Paleoclimate of southeastern Greenland

Yashvardan Sharma
he/him
ysharma2 at buffalo dot edu
Computer Science BS

Streamlining code and adding functionality for geochemical analysis in Paleoclimate Research

Yash's Linkedin

Former lab members

Postdocs & Technicians

Owen Cowling
MS, Geology, May 2018
Deglacial temperature and precipitation history of coastal Norway and the Polar Ural Mountains, Russia

Organic & Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Lab Manager 2017-2023

current: Technician, University of Cincinnati, OH

Michaela Fendrock
UB Postdoc 2022-2023
NSF OPP Postdoctoral Fellow

A Well Constrained Hosing Experiment for Interrogating Arctic Precipitation Changes in the Younger Dryas

PhD Paleoclimate, MIT-WHOI Joint Program

current: Assistant Professor, Alfred University, Alfred, NY

PhD

Kurt Lindberg
he/him
kurtlind at buffalo dot edu
PhD 2025

Quantifying plant wax and bulk sediment organic matter sources to lakes in the Eastern Canadian Arctic to improve Holocene permafrost, vegetation, and hydrology reconstructions

current: Instructional Support Technician, UB Earth Sciences Department

Kurt's Linkedin

Devon Gorbey
PhD, Geology, September 2023
University at Buffalo Presidential Fellow

Interglacial hydroclimate variability along a latitudinal transect, Baffin Island, Arctic Canada

current: AAAS/AGU Congressional Science & Technology Policy Fellow

Harleena Franklin
harleena at buffalo dot edu
PhD Student, 2021-2024
University at Buffalo Schomburg Fellow

MSc Library and Information Science, Syracuse University
MSc Bioarchaeology, University of Aberdeen

Katelyn (Katie) Eaman

PhD student, 2022-2023

current: MS student in UB Geology Planetary Research Group

Sofia Kjellman
PhD, UiT the Arctic University of Norway and the University Centre in Svalbard, 2022

Latitudinal gradients in Holocene precipitation seasonality and humidity in Arctic Norway

Sofia's LinkedIn; ResearchGate; University in Tromsø profile

current: Postdoctoral Researcher, UiT the Arctic University of Norway

Allison Cluett
PhD, Geology, May 2021
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
2018-2019 Schlanger Ocean Drilling Fellow
2021-2022 NSF AGS Postoctoral Fellow, Northern Arizona University

Holocene temperature and precipitation history of western Greenland

Allison's website

current: Assistant Project Scientist University of California, Santa Cruz and NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center

Master's

Hannah Holtzman
MS, Geology, May 2023

Holocene climate change on the Kola Peninsula, Russia

current: Geologist, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minneapolis, MN

Kayla Hollister
MS, Geology, May 2021
Modern plant leaf wax distributions and sources to lake sediments, Baffin Island, Arctic Canada

BS, Geology, May 2019
Water isotopes of streams, precipitation, and groundwater in Western New York
and
Holocene summer precipitation isotopes in Disko Bugt, western Greenland

current: pursuing PhD at University of Notre Dame

Arden Croft
MS non-thesis, Geology, September 2021
co-advised by Dr. Chuck Mitchell
Ocean phytoplankton and oxygen changes during
the Late Ordovician mass extinction event

current: Earth Science teacher, Nardin Academy, Buffalo, NY

Jiawei Jiang
MS non-thesis, Geology, September 2021
co-advised by Dr. Chuck Mitchell
Biomarker indicators of global ocean oxygenation conditions during the late Ordovician mass extinction event

current: environmental consultant

Amy Grogan
MS, Geology, May 2020
Holocene precipitation seasonality reconstructed using lake sediments in southwestern Greenland

current: Geologist at CORE Environmental, Buffalo, NY

Megan Corcoran
BS, Geology & Chemistry, May 2017
MS, Geology, May 2019
Assessing and applying a dual isotope approach as an indicator of precipitation seasonality and moisture recycling in modern and paleoclimate studies

current: Postdoc at University of Cincinnati, OH

Elizabeth Lee
MA, Geology, June 2018
Tonawanda Coke Soil Study

current: Science Teacher, Howard High School, Columbia, MD

Undergrads

Aspen Marshall
she/her
aspenmar at buffalo dot edu
Atmospheric Sciences major at the University of Utah
Atmospheric & Geologic Hazards NSF REU Summer 2025

Using precipitation isotopes as a proxy for climate change in western NY

Aspen's Linkedin

Camryn Nelson
she/her
camrynne at buffalo dot edu
Meteorology major at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Atmospheric & Geologic Hazards NSF REU Summer 2025

Causes and patterns of lake-effect snow

Camryn's Linkedin

Justus Rodriguez

Geology 2026

Paleoclimate of central Siberia

Nick Ohnmeiss

Geography and Environmental Geosciences 2026

Paleoclimate of the Hudson Strait

Kayla Zhou

BS, Geological Sciences, 2024

Water cycle seasonality in Western New York

Dephil Jones
BS, Environmental Geosciences, 2023

Fall 2023: Mapping permafrost extent from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene

Summer 2022: Examining seasonal and interannual changes in lake size on western Greenland using remote sensing techniques
Collaboration with Drs. Allison Cluett and Bea Csatho

Haben Berhe
BS, Environmental Engineering, 2023

Precipitation isotope seasonality and spatial variability in Western New York

Katie Patchett
BS, Geology, 2023

Abby Stressinger
BS, Biological Sciences and Environmental Geosciences, 2023

Isabelle Mahar
BS, Environment and Sustainability at Barnard College, 2023

Using lake water balance modeling to examine how lake morphometry affects Arctic lake water isotope values

Leaf wax and organic matter abundance in Alaskan loess samples from MIS5 to MIS20

Isabelle's LinkedIn

Katie Lovell
BS, Geology, December 2021

Water isotopes of streams, precipitation, and groundwater in Western New York

current: Geologist, AECOM, Buffalo, NY

Delaney Murphy
First two years of Geology studies at UB

Water isotopes of streams, precipitation, and groundwater in Western New York

Maya Prabhakar
BS, Geology, May 2020
Foraminifera oxygen isotopes as a proxy for Greenland Ice Sheet melt and Arctic Ocean seasonality

current: Science teacher, NYC Schools

Todd Glosser
BS, Geology, May 2020
Water isotopes and water residence time of ponds and lakes in Western New York

current: Earth Science and Chemistry teacher at Mount St. Mary Academy, Kenmore, NY

Owen Ogiony
BS, Geology, May 2019
Water isotopes and water residence time of ponds and lakes in Western New York

current: Geologist at Langan Engineering & Environmental Services

Sandrine Duboscq
BS, Geology, May 2018
Holocene temperature and precipitation
history of Svalbard

MS at North Carolina State University, 2020

current: Staff Geologist at Nicklaus Engineering

Nathan Marshall
BS, Geology & Chemistry, May 2018
Ocean phytoplankton and environmental changes during
the Late Ordovician mass extinction event

current: pursuing PhD at University of California Riverside

Anthony Ebron
BS, Geology, May 2017
The relationship between water isotopes in Ellicott Creek, Buffalo, NY, and spring snowmelt and extreme rainfall events

current: Geologist at Woodard & Curran

Casterland Fanfan
BS, Geology, May 2016
Carbon isotopes of leaf waxes on the Chinese Loess Plateau

current: Environmental and Water Resources Engineer, Pennoni, Philadelphia, PA