People

Bess Ward profile pic 2

Bess B. Ward

Position: Faculty
Title: William J. Sinclair Professor of Geosciences and the Princeton Environmental Institute.
Area(s):

  • Biogeochemistry
  • Biological Oceanography
  • Microbiology

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
217 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-5150
Email: [email protected]
Assistant: S. Canan Aker

ORCID: 0000-0001-7870-2684
Curriculum Vitae


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Amal Jayakumar

Position: Research Staff
Title: Senior Professional Specialist, Geosciences
Area(s): Biogeochemistry
Research Focus: Microbially mediated nitrogen transformations in oceanic oxygen minimum zones

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
M45 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-6294
Email: [email protected]
Assistant: S. Canan Aker

 


Elizabeth Leon Palmero

Elizabeth Leon Palmero

Position: Research Staff
Title: Visiting Research Fellow
Area(s): Nitrous oxide, denitrification, biogeochemistry, microbiology
Research Summary: My main research interest is to understand the production and consumption of nitrous oxide (N2O) in fresh and marine ecosystems, including both abiotic and biotic pathways. As a Marie-Sklodowska-Curie fellow at Princeton University, I will be studying how marine deoxygenation affects N2O production in oxygen minimum zones. I am also interested in the effect of sunlight on N2O production. In my previous work at the University of Southern Denmark (NordCee), I focused on N2O in the Baltic Sea and the Greenland Sea. During my Ph.D. at the University of Granada I studied CO2, CH4, N2O in freshwater reservoirs.

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
157 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Email: [email protected]
Website: eleonpalmero.com
Assistant: S. Canan Aker
 

Selected Publications:

Elizabeth Leon-Palmero et al., Sunlight drives the abiotic formation of nitrous oxide in fresh and marine waters. Science 387,1198-1203(2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adq0302


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Samantha G. Fortin

Position: Research Staff
Title: Postdoctoral Research Associate

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
157 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-4674
Email: [email protected]
Assistant: S. Canan Aker

 

 


Michele Mazeris

Michele C. Mazeris


Title: Administrative Assistant

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
112 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 609-258-5994
Email: [email protected]

 

 


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J. Catherine Hexter


Title: Graduate Student

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Email: [email protected]

 

 

 


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Moriah A. Kunes


Title: Graduate Student
Area(s):

  • Coral Symbionts
  • Biological Oceanography 
  • Nitrogen Cycle
  • Coral Reefs

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-4674
Email: [email protected]


Jenna Lee profile pic

Jenna Lee


Title: Graduate Student

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
157 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Phone: +1 (609) 258-4674
Email: [email protected]

 

 

 


Celia Murphy-Braunstein profile pic

Celia Murphy-Braunstein ’25


Title: Undergraduate

Contact Information:
Princeton University, Department of Geosciences
Guyot Hall Mailroom, Princeton, NJ 08544. United States
Email: [email protected]

 

 

 


Former Group Members