UNC Dept of Earth, Marine & Environmental Sciences

First Author Announcement! 🎉 We are thrilled to congratulate Olivia Key, Rodriguez Lab alumna, on the publication of her honors thesis in Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. Congratulations to Olivia on this achievement! 🔗 Read her thesis here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1mMbG~1MBv71c

Meet Emily Speciale, a PhD student in the Marchetti Lab studying marine phytoplankton ecology and ocean productivity. Emily was recently selected as a 2025–26 UNC Kenan Galapagos Fellow, supporting her research in one of the world’s most important natural laboratories!

🌎 EMES at GSA Connects 2025! We’re so proud of the students and faculty who represented UNC’s Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences (EMES) at this year’s Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas!

Collapsing homes on the NC coast highlight the risks of long-term erosion. At @UNC_EMES, Dr. Laura Moore studies how erosion and management decisions shape the future of oceanfront communities. 🎥 Watch her insights: foxweather.com/watch/fmc-75eo…

🎃 EMES brought students together with a Pumpkin Painting Party…proving that research minds can make pretty great artists too! 🖌️🍂 Here’s to a fall season filled with connection, creativity, and Carolina blue! 💙

Excited to join #GSAConnects2025 with the @UNC_EMES team! EMES is proud to showcase research on subduction, orogens, climate, uplift, and more! Come find us, connect, and be part of the conversation! 🔥🗻 #GeoTwitter #Petrology #Subduction

Colloquium this Friday! 🗣️ 📅 Friday, October 3 at 3:30 PM 📍 Carolina Hall Room 220 (UNC–Chapel Hill) 🎤 Speaker: Dr. Chao Wang (UNC EMES Department) 🌊 Talk Title: “As the Ocean Marches Inland: How Rising Seas Reshape Coastal Landscapes”

🌪 Tomorrow: Join the EMES Colloquium Seminar Series for the Sankey L. Blanton Lectureship w/ Dr. Gabriel Vecchi (Princeton). 📅 Sept. 24 | 1:30 PM 📍 Mitchell Hall 005 + IMS Library 💻 Zoom: 974 5684 1506 Topic: Linking past & future hurricane activity changes

Congratulations to Rick Luettich, #UNC Alumni Distinguished Professor of @UNC_EMES, for receiving the 2025 International Coastal Engineering Award 🎉 The award honors Luettich's "national leadership in coastal storm hazards." college.unc.edu/2025/04/luetti… @RENCI @ASCETweets

"Building infrastructure and housing that can withstand not only the floods of the past, but also those of the future, is critical to developing resilient communities," said @UNC_EMES expert Antonia Sebastian. Learn about Sebastian's work in Western N.C. go.unc.edu/Yb82Q

Great work, EMES presenters and session organizers!

Emma Dempsey making EMES proud with her action-oriented research on antimicrobial resistance, coastal storms and wastewater infrastructure in the face of climate change.

Capping off our busy Saturday were seven posters from graduate students Margarita Lankford, Veronica Slevin, Riley Moran and Lillian Cooper and undergraduate students Keshav Srivenkatesh, Eleanor Hennessey and Lauren McShea #ASLO25

Later on Saturday, postdoc Dr. Raquel Flynn and graduate student Emily Speciale presented talks on how microscopic marine organisms - eukaryotic phytoplankton and mixotrophs - respond to nutrients like nitrogen and iron #ASLO25

#ASLO25 weekend recap! On Saturday morning, graduate students Emma Dempsey and Yubeen Jeong gave talks in SS45: North Carolina’s coast at the doorstep of climate change. This session, organized in part by by Drs. Hans Paerl and Rachel Noble, also featured a talk by Dr. Paerl.

Our #PTp latest article #EPLS Donoso-Tapia et al.. 2025 about deserpentinization and reserpentinization in 🇪🇨 Raspas complex was feature in New Studies on Serpentinites of ⁦@AAPG⁩ CORE ELEMENTS ⁦@UNC⁩ ⁦@UNC_EMES⁩ newsletters.aapg.org/new-studies-on…

This afternoon, postdoctoral researchers Chad Lloyd and Mingying Chuo will present their research on the effects of pressure on polysaccharide update by bacteria and how light limitation during salinity intrusions impact phytoplankton.

We are at #ASLO25! Yesterday morning, graduate student Mary Kate Rinderle kicked of the EMES presentations with her talk, characterizing a cyanobacteria-driven regime shift within Lake Mattamuskeet, NC using long-term monitoring datasets, in session SS42A. @aslo_org

Please join us tomorrow morning to celebrate Aundre Jackson as he defends his Master's thesis! Aundre's research answers the question, to what extent does V. fischeri use T6SS weapons to invade an already colonized territory? See you at 10:30 am tomorrow in Murray Hall or Zoom!

It's giving...Earth! Marine Science! Environment! Happy #GiveUNC Day! Your donation supports the incredible work of students and faculty across EMES, from funding research travel to awarding student accomplishments. Share your love for UNC, share your love for Earth💙🌎