Scott Wankel is a tenured Associate Scientist in Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). He received his PhD in stable isotope biogeochemistry from Stanford University, before extending his interests into the deep sea during his postdoc at Harvard University. At WHOI, his lab group’s research interests primarily focus on questions about the biogeochemical dynamics of elemental cycles, especially those of nitrogen, carbon and oxygen – often exploring how cycling and scarcity of metals such as iron, copper and manganese may also be tangled in these complex cycles. To better understand the underlying complexity of these cycles, his group employs a suite of approaches typically involving measurement of naturally occurring stable isotopes and/or development and deployment of in situ chemical and isotopic sensors for field-based research. He has recently become enamored with the amazing capacity for sponges to serve as immense bioreactors for biogeochemical cycling in oligotrophic systems. As a Co-I on this cruise, Scott will be working to collect and analyze samples in and around sponges to apply stable isotope tools to unlocking the processes they harbor within.
Cruises:
