I completed both a BSc (Honours) and MSc in Earth Sciences at Memorial University of Newfoundland with Dr. Aphrodite Indares in metamorphic petrology. This research used phase equilibria diagrams constructed from anatectic aluminous gneisses from the Grenville province to interpret the pressure-temperature paths that these rocks following during the orogeny, as well as the melt history. It also investigated the influences of several parameters that are often assumed or ignored in phase equilibria modeling, such as Fe3+.
I am currently continuing my studies at Memorial University as a PhD student with Dr. Sue Ziegler and the Biochemistry of Boreal Ecosystems Research Group (BBERG). My research involves the investigation of watershed scale mineralogical influences on podzolic soil organic matter and its cycling and stream geochemistry. This project uses sites along the Newfoundland and Labrador Boreal Ecosystem Latitudinal Transect (NL-BELT) where soil pits and catchment areas of interest overlie a wide variety of rock types, including carbonates, siliclastic sediments, volcanics and both felsic and mafic intrusive rocks. The goal is to fill in the gaps within the terrestrial to aquatic interface, and to link geological information to C fluxes. In doing so I hope to contribute to a better understanding of potential shifts in weather processes in relationship to climate in boreal forest landscapes.