graduate student, since Fall 2021

Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences
eklonicki@g.ucla.edu
SLICHTER 5877

My research focusses on the microorganisms and biogeochemical processes that control marine methane cycling in both the modern and early Earth system. As a doctoral student at UCLA, I aim to help address the fundamental questions of whether there is life outside of our home planet and what conditions may lead to life forming by utilizing analog environments that resemble Earth’s ancient oceans. For this work we visited Fayetteville Green Lake in New York, a permanently stratified euxinic lake reminiscent of the Proterozoic Ocean. In addition to this project, the primary effort of my graduate research tackles the current global climate crisis on our home planet. I investigate the microorganisms in our oceans that consume methane, a potent greenhouse gas, that is emitted from methane cold seeps. Importantly, as oceans continue to warm, it is projected that methane release may increase making the understanding the marine methane sources and sinks, essential to inform climate projections, policies, and marine ecosystems. Two research cruises off Southern California and in the Gulf of Alaska were completed to compare shallow versus deep methane seeps.

I received my B.S at the University of Pittsburgh, in Microbiology and my M.S in Geochemistry at UCLA. While at the University of Pittsburgh, my research spanned the fields of biology and environmental engineering. I examined the effect of MAF1 gene expression interference on host-pathogen interactions in Toxoplasma gondii supervised by Dr. John Boyle. Following, I led a team under Dr. David Sanchez that investigated the effect of bioanode material on microbial fuel cell power generation. Before pursuing my doctoral degree at UCLA, I was a planetary protection and systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. I participated in independent research projects, Ocean Worlds mission concept development, systems formulation for the Radioisotope Power Source Office, and was a planetary protection engineer for Europa Clipper and Europa Lander mission concept. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, camping, trying new restaurants, and running with my dog.

Publications

Please refer to my Google Scholar Profile