Roger Bryant, PhD student
Roger completed his Phd in 2019, investigating small-scale isotopic signatures within pyrites in modern and ancient sediments. His project focuses on modeling and lab work that investigates pyrite d34S variability as a function of depositional environment conditions. He is currently a postdoc at the University of Chicago working with Clara Blättler and will start a faculty job at Purdue in January 2023.
Jocelyn Richardson, PhD student
Jocelyn completed her Phd in 2019, having investigated depositional dependence of geochemical signatures and the micron-scale variability in abundances of sulfur species within Ordovician and Silurian carbonates. She is currently research scientist at the synchrotron facilities at SSRL/SLAC.
Jake Ogata Bernstein
Jake investigated environmental information that can be obtained from bulk and microscale geochemical approaches. He studied S-cycling preserved in late-Ordovician strata containing the Guttenberg C isotopic excursion.
Morgan Raven
Morgan was an Agouron postdoc in the lab from 2016-2018 and spearheaded a suite of projects on organic sulfur in both modern systems and ancient strata. She is now an assistant professor at UC Santa Barbara.
Maya Gomes
Maya was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab from 2014 to 2016. Her research projects involved modern microbial S cycling within microbial mats in lacustrine and marine environments. She is now an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Cole was a postdoctoral fellow who was part of the research group from August 2014 to July 2016. His research projects involved investigating Paleozoic environmental and biogeochemical change. He is now an assistant professor at Appalachian State University.
Dwight ‘Mac’ McCay
Mac graduated from Maryville University with a BS in Environmental Science and worked in the Fike lab for seven years as lab manager. He’s now working as a project scientist with TRC Solutions.
Stephanie Moore
Stephanie oversaw day-to-day operations by keeping the mass specs running, making sure the lab space remains tidy, and training new members. She moved on to a job at the Medical School in 2021.
Garrecht Metzger
Garrecht investigated the possible causes and spatial extent of the Guttenburg carbon isotope excursion (Late Ordovician) across the eastern half of the United States as well as understanding cm to 1000s of km-scale variability in C isotopes. His work included C-isotope chemostratigraphy in the subsurface using drill cores and well cuttings as a means of high-resolution correlation of Paleozoic sediments. In addition, Garrecht had a research project that focused on using sulfur isotopes to understand the origin on gypsum in Mammoth Cave, KY.
Jianxin ‘Jason’ Gao
Jason spent two years as a graduate student studying the impact of depositional environments and syndepositional sedimentary reworking on the sulfur isotopic composition of aqueous and sedimentary sulfide phases.
Tor O’Brien
Tor investigated small-scale spatial gradients in geochemical and isotopic signatures within and between different carbonate fabrics and facies.
Davey joined the group in June 2009 as a postdoctoral researcher. Davey’s work focused on changing biogeochemical cycling and the end-Ordovician extinction. His field work took him to Anticosti Island in eastern Canada. Davey left the group in November 2010 and is now an Associate Professor of Geology at Amherst College in Amherst, MA.
Catherine Rose
Catherine joined the research group in September 2012. Her research investigated the impact that sedimentology has on isotopic signatures preserved in modern and ancient settings. In addition, she characterized the localization of different sulfur species within complex sedimentary strata using the synchrotron at Argonne National Labs. Catherine left the group in August 2014 and is now an Assistant Professor at the University of St Andrews.
Claire Beaudoin
Claire received her bachelors degree in Biology from Webster University and diligently (and cheerfully) worked in the lab for several years as a technician. Claire is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Mike Brasher
Mike is a graduate from Maryville University who worked in the lab from 2012-2014 as a lab tech. His work focused on improving methods for capturing ambient hydrogen sulfide on photographic film as a means to generate high-resolution spatial maps of sulfide abundance and isotopic composition (e.g., following analysis on SIMS instrumentation). In addition, Mike served as a jack-of-all-trades within the lab, helping out everywhere on a variety of projects.
Rachel Folkerts
Rachel worked in the lab on an undergraduate research project investigating the evolution of Mesozoic carbon cycling in the Umbria-Marche basin, Italy. Rachel is currently working for a non profit focusing on water issues in the Houston area!
Paul Gorjan
Paul joined the group in October 2009 as a research scientist. His research focused on biogeochemical perturbations associated with mass extinctions, particularly focusing on the isotopic composition of carbon and sulfur phases in the sedimentary record. Paul left the group in 2012 to work for Thermo back in his homeland of Australia.
Matt Ampleman
Matt worked in the Fike labs during his senior undergraduate year. Matt’s research focused on carbon accumulation in prairie ecosystems, particularly examining restored prairies as potential sites for carbon sequestration. After graduation, Matt worked at the EPA for two years and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the University of Iowa.
Dan Johnson
Dan worked in the lab on a variety of projects. His thesis focused on the sulfur isotopic signature of sediments within Florida Bay, using both field sampling and ex situ laboratory experiments to understand the impact of oxidative reworking (e.g., as the result of storms/tides) on the preservation of sedimentary sulfides and their isotopic signatures.
Chris Thom
Chris’ thesis aimed to understand the impact of depositional environment on sulfur isotopic (i.e., pyrite δ34S) signatures in ancient strata. Specifically, he examined facies- and lithology-dependent isotopic signatures within Silurian-aged turbidites collected along the shore of Girvan in Scotland in March 2013.
Emily Wills
Emily worked with Dr. Jen Houghton to understand the sulfur metabolism (and associated isotopic fractionation) associated with the metabolic activity of a variety of microbes that can utilize intermediate valence sulfur species (e.g., thiosulfate, elemental sulfur).