Student Spotlight: Alexandra O'Keefe
"While we slice, I had to cover the top of the core to minimize degassing since we are taking methane measurements."
Alexandra presenting her first research poster in 2022 at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) REU reception.
Meet graduate student, PhD candidate, and pioneer of the GeoClub “Intro to Grad School” panel Alexandra O’Keefe. Her research focuses on reconstructing past climates to better inform us about future warming. She is specifically interested in reconstructing past ocean circulation patterns in previous warm periods that are analogous to modern conditions or time periods that experienced a rapidly changing climate.
“Ocean circulation is vital for marine ecosystems, local and regional weather patterns, and the economy via fisheries, so it is important that we better understand the dynamics of this complicated system and how it might respond to climate change,” Alexandra shared.
Processing a collected multicore sample.
Her interest in paleoclimate initially grew from an interest in meteorology after her hometown in upstate New York was shockingly destroyed by a hurricane. What began with a fascination with weather turned into earning a bachelor’s in atmospheric science. A growing concern of climate change pivoted her to focus more on climate science. However, her senior year, an REU program helped her discover paleoclimate. “It combined my interests having hands-on work combined with data analysis, while feeding my passion for climate research,” Alexandra noted, “I enjoy thinking I am solving mini mysteries about Earth’s past climate.”
She recently had the opportunity to do research at sea where her job was to help a colleague identify different species of foraminifera and to collect sediment samples from the bottom of the ocean using a multi-corer. The U.S. Atlantic Margin (USAM) has been somewhat recently discovered to be a very active site of methane seepage and methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. By measuring the carbon isotopes of the benthic foraminifera the team aims to 1) reconstruct methane seepage events through time and 2) better understand how methane impacts local biology and geology at USAM.
Holding a chunk of sediment core.
Alexandra also shared that she's been lucky enough to take great classes here at the University of Arizona. When asked what her favorite class is, she mentioned Stable Isotope Geochemistry with her advisor Dr. Kaustubh Thirumalai and Dr. Jay Quade. "This was easily the most challenging course I have taken in my graduate school experience so far," Alexandra remarked, "but it was very rewarding and I learned a lot! We all have to do a project at the end of the semester and apply stable isotope techniques to whatever we are interested in. Since that class gravitates people from various fields, it was very neat to see what projects everyone came up with."
Following a strong passion to create inclusive spaces in geosciences and making higher education/academia more accessible, she designed the "Intro to Grad School" panel. "We talk through the steps to apply to grad school and professors give advice on how to have a successful application while grad students and industry folks discuss how grad school has been useful for their careers and things they wished they knew sooner." She also coordinates the Southern Arizona chapter of AWG's undergraduate field camp scholarship which aims to alleviate to financial barriers of field camp, an often necessary component of a geology degree.
Taking a break to enjoy the sunset!
"Being a part of these two organizations and witnessing how important these programs are has also given me encouragement to stay in academia and hopefully bring aspects of these programs to future positions," Alexandra ended with, "Through the years I have learned that I really enjoy research and have realized how important paleoclimate research is to better understand the Earth system. I have also had the privilege of working with some amazing undergraduates and high school students who have taught me that I find fulfillment in mentoring. Therefore, I am interested in staying in academia and hopefully continue doing research on past oceanic dynamics.”