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Laurel Childress

Laurel Childress received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2016. Her primary advisors at Northwestern were Professor Neal Blair and Professor Steve Jacobsen. After receiving her Ph.D., she began working as a Postdoctoral Scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). While working at WHOI, she conducted research in the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry facility with Valier Galy and Ann McNichol. Her postdoctoral research focused on the investigation of carbon preservation in turbidite deposits using Ramped Pyr-Ox. This unique instrument and technique allows for the collection of multiple radiocarbon and stable carbon isotope measurements from one sample at intervals along a ramped temperature profile.     

Dr. Childress began working for the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas in September 2017. At IODP Dr. Childress serves as an Expedition Project Manager and Staff Scientist providing scientific expertise, leadership, and advocacy for the implementation of IODP expeditions and science services. This includes facilitating and sailing on IODP expeditions, conducting independent IODP and non-IODP research, and contributing to the science engagement activities of IODP and Texas A&M University. For example, they recently hosted the “In Search of Earth’s Secrets” Pop-Up Science Encounter for a training workshop before the exhibit moves to Martinsville, VA, New Brunswick, NJ, and New York City, NY in the coming year.

Dr. Childress’ first expedition as Staff Scientist will be October 2018, Expedition 378: South Pacific Paleogene Climate, which will depart Lyttelton, NZ before completing a south Pacific coring transect, and will conclude in Papeete, Tahiti. She will be joined by NU EPS PhD student Gabriella Kitch during the expedition. Expedition 378 will take place on the JOIDES Resolution. The JOIDES Resolution is a riserless scientific drilling vessel that supports labs for sedimentology, petrology, microscopy, paleontology, paleomagnetism, petrophysics, stratigraphic correlation, downhole measurements, chemistry, microbiology, XRD, and underway geophysics. Dr. Childress previously sailed on the JOIDES on Expedition 341 while she was a Ph.D. student.