Current Personnel

Geneviève Bernier (genevieve.bernier@uconn.edu)

• Joined the Mason lab in November 2005 as a Faculty Research Assistant.
  
• Previous Studies: Earned a M.Sc. degree in Aqueous Geochemistry from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in February 2006.
  
• Thesis Title: Mercury diagenesis in the Saguenay Fjord
  
• Research Interests: environmental and aqueous geochemistry, biogeochemical behavior of mercury
  

Oguz Yigiterhan (oguz.yigiterhan@uconn.edu)

• Oguz, a Turkish scientist (Ph.D.) has been doing scientific research as a Post-Doctoral Fellow since January 2006 in the Department of Marine Sciences, UCONN.
• Previous Studies: Earned a PhD degree in Chemical Oceanography From the Institute of Marine Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Mersin, Turkey, in August 2005.
• Ph.D. Thesis title: "The Composition of Particulate Matter in the Water Column and Sediments of the Black Sea and Regional Rivers".

Research Interests:

• Biogeochemical cycling and fate of dissolved, particulate and methylated mercury (Hg) species in the Gulf of Mexico, Equatorial Pacific Ocean and the Black Sea.
• Natural and anthropogenically related emissions, biogeochemical interactions, and cycling of mercury (Hg) and other key heavy metals in the Black Sea redox environments and river systems
• Determination of trace metal concentrations in particulate and biogenic matter, plankton and fish using ICP-MS and AAS Flame & Graphite Furnace techniques

Recent Publications:

• Yigiterhan O. and J.W. Murray, "Trace Metal Composition of Particulate Matter of the Danube River and Turkish Rivers Draining into the Black Sea" (accepted for Marine Chemistry - P. Brewer Special Issue).
• Lamborg, C.H., O. Yigiterhan, W.F. Fitzgerald, P. Balcom and C. Hammerschmidt, "Vertical Distributions of Hg Species in the Black Sea" (accepted for Marine Chemistry - P. Brewer Special Issue).
• Yigiterhan O., "The Composition of Particulate Matter in the Water Column and Sediments of the Black Sea and Regional Rivers". Ph.D. thesis. METU Institute of Marine Sciences, Mersin, July 2005.
  

Bian Liu (bliu@hsph.harvard.edu)

• Join the Mason's Lab in March 2007 as a post-doc research fellow working on a joint research project between Harvard School of Public Health and UConn.

• Previous studies: Earned a Ph.D. degree in Environmental Health Sciences from School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI in February, 2007.

• Ph.D. Dissertation title: Atmospheric Mercury Speciation in Urban Air: identifying the relative importance of local anthropogenic sources in Detroit, Michigan

• Research Interests: Mercury biogeochemical cycle including sources, transport, and fate of mercury; Human exposure to mercury.

Former Faculty Research Scientists and Technicians

Eun-Hee Kim (eun-hee.kim@uconn.edu)

• Joined the team as a postdoc in January 2005
  
• Eun-Hee is involved in projects such as mercury methylation in the coastal zone, mercury in the San Francisco Bay Delta Region and mercury deposition to Bermuda
• Left in September 2006
  
• Papers:
  

1. Kim, E-H, R.P. Mason, E.T. Porter and H.L. Soulen (2004). "The effect of resuspension on the fate of total mercury and methylmercury in a shallow estuarine ecosystem: a mesocosm study". Marine Chemistry, 86: 121-137
2. Kim, E-H, R.P. Mason, E.T. Porter and H.L. Soulen (accepted). "The impact of resuspension on sediment mercury dynamics, and methylmercury production and fate: A mesocosm study". Marine Chemistry;
3. Mason, R.P., E-H. Kim and J. Cornwell (2004). "Metal accumulation in Baltimore Harbor: current and past Inputs". Applied Geochemistry, 19(11):1801-1825;
4. Heyes, A., Mason, R.P., Kim, E-H., and Sunderland, E. (in press). "Mercury methylation in eastuaries: Insights from measuring rates using mercury stable isotopes". Marine Chemistry;
5. Mason, R.P., Kim, E-H., Cornwell, J., and Heyes, D. (in press). "The influence of redox status on the flux of mercury, methylmercury and other constituents from estuarine sediment". Marine Chemistry.

Andrew Heyes (heyes@cbl.umces.edu)

• Joined the team in July 2000. Was involved
  
• Previous Studies: Earned a PhD degree in the Department of Geography (Physical Geography and Biogeochemical Processes) from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada in May, 1996. Dissertation Title: Mercury Cycling in Disturbed and Undisturbed Wetlands. Earned a MS degree from the same institution in May 1990
  
• Former Position: Associate Research Scientist, CBL, Solomons, MD
  

Fabien Laurier (laurier@cbl.umces.edu)

• Joined the Mason Lab in March 2002.
  
• Previous Study: earned a PhD in Chemical Oceanography the Department of Geochemistry from Jussieu University (Paris, France), in association with IFREMER-DEL/PC,(Nantes, France), in December 2001. Dissertation Title: Mercury Cycle in the Seine River Estuary, Bay and Coastal Area : Chemical Speciation and Bioavailability. Earned a M S degree in the Department of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology from Jussieu University and the National Museum of Natural History (Paris, France), in September 1998.

Elka Porter (porter@cbl.umces.edu)

• Joined the team in Autumn, 1999.
  
• Previous Studies: Earned a Ph.D. degree in Oceanography from the University of Maryland MEES Program in May, 1999.
  Dissertation Title: Physical and Biological Scaling of Benthic-Pelagic Coupling in Experimental Ecosystem Studies.
  
• Earned a M.Sci. degree from the Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany in July, 1992.
  
• Research Interests: Effects of biology and water flow on nutrient and contaminant cycling in ecosystems; Benthic-pelagic coupling; Experimental ecosystems.
  
• Previous Experience: Faculty Research Scientist at UMCES Horn Point Laboratory.
  
• Related Papers:
  

Porter, E.T., L.P. Sanford, and S.E. Suttles. 2000. Gypsum dissolution is NOT a universal integrator of 'water motion.' Limnol. Oceanogr. 45: 145-158.
Porter, E.T., M.S. Owens, and J.C. Cornwell. 2000. The effect of sediment homogenization and defaunation on sediment biogeochemical fluxes. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. (In Press).

Former Faculty Research Assistants

Debby Heyes (dheyes@cbl.umces.edu)

• Joined the team in December, 1999.
  
• Previous Studies: Earned a M.Sci. degree in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Maryland MEES Program in December, 1990.
  Thesis Title: The Effect of Lead Intoxication on Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica) Reproduction.
  
• Previous Experience: Staff Scientist at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Estuarine Research Center from June 1987 - November 1999.

Heather Soulen (soulen@cbl.umces.edu)

• Joined the team in March, 2000, left Jan 1, 2004
  
• Previous Studies: B.S. Environmental Science with Marine Science concentration from Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Florida, May 1995.
  
• Earned a M.Sci. degree in Biology from Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA in December, 1998.
  Thesis Title: The Effects of Habitat Complexity and Predation on the Distribution of Grass Shrimp (Decapoda: Palaemonetes) in the Lower St. Johns River Basin, Florida.
  
• Research Interests: Fish and Invertebrate Ecology
  
• Related Papers:

Matthew Reardon (luminosity7@hotmail.com)

• Joined team in June, 2002, left July 2004
  
• Previous Studies: B.A. Environmental Studies with an Environmental Science concentration from Gettysburg College
  
• Current Position: Lab Manager, Dr. Palmer's Stream Ecology Group, University of
  Maryland

So Long and Thanks for all the Fish!!!