Undergraduate Student
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences & Chemistry and Biochemistry
tdmaster@ucsc.edu

Research interests: marine biogeochemistry, chemical oceanography, carbon cycle, remote sensing, climate

Biography
I am currently a third year majoring in Earth Sciences and Chemistry. Growing up, I knew I wanted to study the marine environment, and here at UCSC I have narrowed my interests to the chemical aspects of marine biogeochemistry. Outside of academics, I love reading, swimming, and stopping during a hike to smell flowers!

Research
This past summer in the Lovenduski Ocean Biogeochemistry Lab at CU Boulder, I used Python to analyze satellite-emulated chlorophyll, sea surface temperature, daylength, and photosynthetically active radiation data, developed time-series plots and regional maps, and computed net primary production to assess observational biases in Arctic phytoplankton productivity.
Previously, I joined Zan’s project here at UCSC, where I drilled into red and vermillion snapper otoliths to collect isotopically analyzable samples to track dietary and habitat shifts in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, I worked to identify growth bands in ancient Hawaiian coral cores to interpret ecological influences on coral growth patterns.