Lab Alumni | Alex L. Sessions | Alex Sessions

Xinning Zhang

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:21:04 -0700

Xinning is a postdoc working on the biochemical basis for D/H fractionations in heterotrophic bacteria. She received her PhD from Caltech in 2010 working with Jared Leadbetter.

Jacob Waldbauer

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 13:18:19 -0700

Jake is the O.K. Earl prize postdoctoral fellow in Environmental Science, and a Beckman Institute postdoctoral scholar. He is working with myself and Jess Adkins on understanding the biochemical basis for isotope fractionations during bacterial sulfate reduction. Jake got his PhD from MIT in 2010 working with Penny Chisholm and Roger Summons.

Kim Poppendorf

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:56:34 -0800

Kim was a Caltech undergrad who spent the spring of her sophomore year (2004) working in the lab learning to analyze PAH's from charcoal. The goal of her project was to examine the ratios of different PAH's produced by burning wood under different conditions. She is now a Ph.D. student in the MIT/WHOI joint program.

Libin Zhang

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:54:54 -0800

Libin worked in my lab as a junior and senior undergraduate geology major (2004 - 2005) doing independent research. He worked on developing new GC/MS methods for the analysis of oxygenated VOC's in seawater.

Gail Arnold

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:53:43 -0800

Gail was a postdoc with me from 2004-05, and worked on using spatial patterns of carbon-isotopic fractionation to authenticate the biogenic (or abiogenic) origins of distinctive sedimentary fabrics, such as stromatolites.

Alison Olcott

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:52:17 -0800

Alison was my first graduate student - well, not officially, but at least in spirit. In reality she was a PhD student at USC with Frank Corsetti, but still spent a fair bit of time in my lab. Alison has since moved on to a postdoctoral position at WHOI, and now is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas.

Chao Li

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:51:47 -0800

Chao was a postdoc in my group from 2004-2007, and worked extensively on compound-specific D/H measurements of sedimentary organic compounds from the Santa Barbara Basin. In April, 2007 he moved to U.C. Riverside where he is currently working with Gordon Love on biomarker records of the Neoproterozoic.

Magnus Eek

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:49:22 -0800

Magnus was a postdoc in my group from 2004-2006, and laboratory manager from 2006-2007. He worked on a variety of projects here at Caltech, most notably the development of the SWiM (spooling wire microcombustion) interface for carbon-isotopic analysis of involatile organic matter. Magnus is currently working with Willi Brandt at MPI in Jena, Germany.

Sky Rashby

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:38:00 -0800

Sky was a geobiology graduate student from 2003-2007, working first in Dianne Newman's group and later splitting his time between our two groups. His research involved the production and function of methylated hopanoids by the anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris. To our great dismay, Sky passed away on August 25, 2007. We still miss him.

Ben Aiga

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:36:56 -0800

Ben was the first high-school intern to work in my lab, and worked with us from 2005 to 2008. During that time, he constructed an annual record of changes in leaf-wax D/H ratios from the San Gabriel Mountains.

Sarah Feakins

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:33:59 -0800

Sarah was a NOAA postdoc in my group from 2006-2008 working on D/H ratios of leafwax compounds as a paleoproxy for environmental water and climate in arid terrestrial environments. She is now an Assistant Professor at USC.

Roberta Hansman

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:46:54 -0700

Roberta was a postdoc in my group using the SWiM interface to measure carbon isotopes in sorted populations of microbial cells in order to understand carbon flows in these communities. She received her Ph.D. in chemical oceanography working with Lihini Aluwihare at Scripps. [rhansman at caltech.edu]

Tomaso Bontognali

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:44:19 -0700

Tomaso was a postdoc working with myself, John Grotzinger and Victoria Orphan. His project at Caltech involved using NanoSIMS to measure the S isotopic composition of small kerogen inclusions in the 3.5 Ga Strelley Pool Chert stromatolites as evidence for microbial sulfur cycling on the early Earth. Tomaso received his Ph.D. from ETH in Zurich working with Judy McKenzie.

Aimee Gillespie

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:43:15 -0700

Aimee was a Caltech undergrad ('09) who started working with my group as a SURF student in 2007. She worked on D/H fractionations in bacterial lipids, including Rhodopseudomonas and E. coli. She is currently preparing to be a graduate student at MIT.

Ying Wang

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:40:57 -0700

Ying was the first Ph.D. student to graduate from my research group at Caltech, and finished in October 2009. While here, she studied equilibrium isotope fractionations between organic molecules, water, and sediments, with the goal of providing physical-chemical data needed to interpret ancient organic D/H records. She is currently a postdoc at the Carnegie Institution in Washington D.C. [ywang1@ciw.edu]

link to Ying's web page.

Ashley Jones

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:39:08 -0700

Ashley was a Ph.D. student in my group from 2004-2008, where she worked on using hydrogen isotopes to understand the provenance of organic compounds in marine organic matter. Here she is on the deck of the R/V Sproul in the eastern Pacific. [jones.ashley.a@gmail.com]

Alon Amrani

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:34:34 -0700

Alon was a postdoc working with myself and Jess Adkins on compound-specific isotopic measurements of organosulfur compounds from sedimentary environments since 2007. He is currently working as a research scientist in Israel. [aamrani@caltech.edu]