Dr. Nick Baetge is a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Botany and Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Oregon State University. He investigates how the quality of organic substrates shapes microbial community dynamics, particularly in the context of climate-driven changes like smoke deposition. By integrating biological, geochemical, genomic, and optical data from fieldwork, laboratory experiments, and satellite observations, Dr. Baetge examines how shifts in microbe–environment interactions influence ocean biogeochemistry. His current research focuses on the physiological responses of marine plankton to environmental stressors such as wildfire-derived ash, diel cycles in phytoplankton optical properties, and validation efforts for NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission. Dr. Baetge is a National Science Foundation Ocean Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellow and an AGU LANDInG (Leadership Academy and Network for Diversity and Inclusion in the Geosciences) Fellow. He earned his Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he studied the spatial and temporal variability of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and its bioavailability during the North Atlantic spring bloom. He holds a B.S. with distinction in Aquatic Biology.
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