Sophie Elam

There are a number of creatures in the ocean who remove carbon from the surrounding waters to build calcium carbonate shells. These organisms, commonly referred to as “marine calcifiers” are an incredibly fascinating and informative group of critters. Looking to the past, these organisms can be a powerful paleoproxy; the geochemical signatures in the calcium carbonate structures they create can encode records of what ancient environmental conditions were like. Looking to the present and future, these organisms are a meaningful part of the marine carbon cycle who will affect (and in turn, be effected by) nutrient cycling and climate change.

I am thrilled to join Branson Labs on the project “Building Shells: Towards a Mechanistic Understanding of Biomineralisation” for my PhD. My research will revolve around using computational tools to model biogeochemical and calcification processes in hopes that our findings can help guide future hypotheses, experiments, and general understandings surrounding marine calcifiers.

When I’m not wading through code, you can find me on aquarium duty admiring our corals or day dreaming about our next foram-culturing field trip!