Kristen Bidas next to sensor tower on the North Slope, AK.

Kristen Bidas

Graduate Research Assistant

I am an analytical chemist/biogeochemist with experience in both industry and academia. I attended Stony Brook University where I earned a master’s degree in chemical oceanography. During that time I worked with different research groups to prepare protocols/materials for field sampling, as well as organized logistics for field sampling in Venezuela and New York. My research required me to learn to operate, maintain, and troubleshoot a variety of field and laboratory instruments, such as an HPLC and Raman microspectroscope. After earning my Masters degree, I worked at Pace Analytical and analyzed different drinking and wastewater samples using GC/LC instrumentation. Currently I am a PhD student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with Dr. Elizabeth Herndon. My research focuses on manganese, iron and carbon biogeochemical cycling in soils. I'm investigating the interactions between these three cycles with field experiments, soil core collection, and a variety of lab techniques, e.g. synchrotron X-ray techniques, chemical extractions, and neutron scattering. I am broadly interested in environmental biogeochemistry with a focus on how element and nutrient cycles affect carbon cycling in soil and ocean systems.