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

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

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

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 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]

J. Catherine Hexter

Title: Graduate Student

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

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

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 ’25

Title: Undergraduate

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