Looking for magnetotactic bacteria in acid mine drainages
Congratulations to undergraduate student Bryce Stoltz who received an Ohio Space Grant Consortium Scholarship in Fall 2024 to work with Dr. Courtney Wagner. In collaboration with Dr. David Singer, the three are searching for magnetotactic bacteria within acid mine drainage samples from Mineral City, Ohio. Magnetotactic bacteria navigate along geomagnetic field lines using magnetic minerals, and these minerals can later be preserved as fossils. Acid mine drainages are potential Early Earth and Martian analog environments because they are harsh, acidic, and iron-rich. Genomic studies suggest that magnetotactic bacteria developed the ability to navigate magnetic field lines to escape harsh environmental conditions on Early Earth. Evidence also suggests that Mars had both water and a magnetic field, two requisites for magnetotactic bacteria to exist. As such, understanding the ecology and biomineralization processes of magnetotactic bacteria in modern ‘extreme’ environments can help us understand what life might have looked like on Early Earth and Mars. In other words, remnants of these charismatic magnetic fossils could provide direct evidence that life existed in these environments.
Community
It is an honor to join the Department of Earth Sciences this academic year as an Assistant Professor. My first few months on the job have been busy, but very rewarding. I am grateful for all the warm welcomes and for the inviting community.
I am originally from the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York, where my love for the outdoors, and Gore Mountain Garnets, was born. Later, my family moved to the geographic center of New York State, where I jokingly like to say “there are more cows than people” (although I think it’s actually true). I began my undergraduate degree at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, as a biology major and stumbled my way into geology about halfway through my degree. As a first-generation student, I was satisfied to learn that there are a variety of job opportunities available to geology majors. I was finally convinced to major in geology after I had the opportunity to do exciting undergraduate research investigating a weak spot in Earth’s magnetic field over the South Atlantic. Not only was the research fun, but it brought relevance to my classwork. I also noticed that the people in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences were kind and genuine. They made me feel like I belonged there. I developed an independent research project investigating magnetotactic bacteria from a glacial kettle hole toward the end of my undergraduate degree. This project was particularly fulfilling to me because I was able to combine several of my favorite topics– biology, earth sciences and physics–into a single project.
After graduating from Rochester, I went directly into a Ph.D. program at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition to searching for magnetotactic bacteria in the Great Salt Lake, I began working on the fossilized remains of magnetotactic bacteria (called magnetofossils) and characterizing their magnetic signatures over the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, a global warming event analogous to modern climate change. Since my Ph.D. work has direct ties to climate change, I became particularly passionate about communicating my science better so that a wider audience can understand the importance of my work and others’ work. As someone from a rural community where most people go on to work blue collar jobs after graduating high school, I am attuned to the (sometimes large) disconnect between scientists and the public. I am passionate about bridging this gap, making science more accessible to everyone and destigmatizing scientists as being “out-of touch.” My time in Utah had me surrounded by supportive, outdoor-minded people such that I developed lifelong friendships and rediscovered my love for the outdoors through frequent backpacking and skiing trips.
Some of my most memorable graduate school experiences occurred during the COVID-19 lockdown. After being sent home in March 2020, we experienced a 5.8 magnitude earthquake. This was my first earthquake experience. If I didn’t already think that the world was ending because of COVID-19 and the earthquake, I was even more freaked out by the following windshear (that felled huge trees around my apartment and campus) and the invasive wildfires that followed that summer. These experiences occurred during the final year of my Ph.D. and to say that they were humbling and humanizing would be a big understatement. It was remarkable how my network of people came together for me, and one another, during this time.
After surviving these natural disasters and finishing my Ph.D., I left for Washington D.C. to start my Peter Buck Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. Being at the Smithsonian for my postdoc allowed me to continue growing as an independent researcher, colleague, mentor and science communicator. My research program expanded to characterizing magnetofossils from other global warming intervals, including Oceanic Anoxic Event 2. The amazing people and research occurring in the Department of Mineral Sciences (and commuting my bike among the crazy D.C.-drivers…) made every day an adventure. Being able to conduct independent research in a government setting gave me a window into the unique regulations, restrictions and overall way that science and policy is conducted at government research institutions.
I finally made my way here, to KSU, in August 2024. However, promptly after moving and attending New Faculty Orientation, I left the country for a conference in Busan, South Korea. Having the chance to connect with and develop friends and colleagues in South Korea was a fun opportunity for me to combine my personal and professional interests. I am actively studying Korean and hope to establish research and teaching connections there during my career at KSU. After returning from South Korea, I was able to spend valuable time getting to know our newest graduate students as the instructor for Graduate Student Orientation. This semester, I’m teaching Earth and Life Through Time, for the first time, which is turning out to be a fun way to interact with our undergraduate students. I’m also looking forward to developing new courses like Environmental Magnetism, which I’m slated to teach in Spring 2026.
My research program continues to grow at KSU with the help and support of my students, colleagues, the Department, and the University. Bryce Stoltz, an undergraduate in the department, joined the group in September and is spearheading a project aimed at detecting and charactering potential magnetotactic bacteria from acid mine drainages (see “Looking for magnetotactic bacteria in acid mine drainages”). I am in the process of recruiting one or two graduate students to join our group in Fall 2025 and we are all eagerly awaiting lab renovations to McGilvrey Hall 135 and 137, the future home of our Environmental Magnetism Research Group (EMRG). Once renovations are complete, we will acquire magnetic instrumentation to support our magnetofossil research. In the meantime, my office space serves as our makeshift lab space, where Bryce spends many hours searching for magnetoactic bacteria using our newly acquired ECHO Revolve light microscope.
A lot has happened in a short amount of time, beyond what I can capture in a single newsletter contribution. What I would really like to convey is the gratitude I have for all the support I have received over my academic career and especially as I transition into this new role as an Assistant Professor at 91㽶Ƶ. I owe a lot to everyone who has cheered me on along the way, especially to my parents, the most consistent cheerleaders of them all. My colleagues are amazing and I can honestly say that the 91㽶Ƶ community already feels like a tight-knit family to me. I look forward to adding to this community through mentoring, student recruitment and by connecting with people within and outside the Department. It is a pleasure to be here and I’m excited to see what’s on the road ahead.