My goal is to become a professor in oceanography who merges biology, physics, engineering, statistics, and more to understand how climate influences biogeochemical cycling. For my Ph.D. thesis, I am using carbon and nitroent isotopes from amino acids in proteinaceous deep-sea corals and larval fish archives from the Gulf of Maine to reconstruct past regime shifts in plankton community dynamics and biogeochemical cycling as a function of regional climate change. This enables me to investigate links between species at lower and higher trophic levels. I have also done research applying regression models to study the drivers of harmful algae blooms in Lake Erie and used numerical models to investigate physical parameters required to forecast hurricanes. When I am not working I like to do things like rock climbing, snowboarding, windsurfing and making videos.

I was also recently selected for the ASLO LOREX International Research Program to conduct compound-specific isotope research on deep-sea corals with Dr. Owen Sherwood at Dalhousie University.

Education:

B.S.E. Environmental Engineering, University of Connecticut, 2017

Ph.D. Biological Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Projected 2022.

Contact Information:

Catherine (Catrina) Nowakowski

Ph.D. Candidate

Graduate School of Oceanography

University of Rhode Island

Narragansett, RI 02882

E-mail: cnowakfooowski@uri.edu

@CatrinaNow