PAOC Spotlights

'Tis the graduation season, and although doctoral students defend throughout the year, the Institute's annual Commencement exercices (held last week) bring many back to visit and formally receive their diplomas, Not everyone can make it but below we check-in with PAOC's Class of 2011:

	Martha, who only defended a few days ago, is staying on at MIT as a postdoc. for the summer, finishing up writing papers.  She looks forward to extending her thesis work on ocean heat transport variability. She was advised by John Marshall.
	Jason, who's thesis work was on anthropogenic aerosols, is currently a Postdoctoral Associate in the Singapore-MIT Alliance. His advisor was Ron Prinn.
	Alysia, who is interested in microbial photosynthesis in extreme environments, is in Zurich, Switzerland, seeking a postdoc position. Her advisor was Mak Saito.
	Caitlin has a Knauss Fellowship to work in DC on science policy. Most recently she has been working on marine energy resource assessments. Caitlin's advisor was Karen Casciotti.
	Expecting a baby in late July, Jessie, who has been studying lipid biomarkers in corals in Karl Huygen's lab, is currently looking for a postdoc position to start in the late fall or early winter.
	Currently travelling prior to taking up a postdoc. position Andrew's thesis concerned marine particle dynamics. Andrew's advisor was Ken Buessler.
	Beatriz is currently working as a postdoc. in the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Center, at University of Tasmania. Still working in physical oceanography, but now in the Southern Ocean, her advisor was Terry Joyce.
	Alex is off to Rockefeller University as a fellow at the Center for Studies in Physics and Biology. Though the details of the research are, as yet, undecided, as Alex puts it: "The theme will doubtlessly be the development of a quantitative understanding of the organization of a biological system. The list of characters will likely include fungi or diatoms. The plot will hopefully involve differential geometry". Until then, Alex is off to explore Alaska and the Pacific Northwest for a few months. Alex's advisor was Dan Rothman.
	Brian Rose is currently at the University of Washington, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, as a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow hosted by David Battisti.  He is working on mechanisms of heat transport into the Arctic. His advisor was John Marshall.
	Brian Tang is the Joanne and Bob Simpson Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. His current research focuses on tropical cyclogenesis, particularly analyzing cases from the Pre-Depression Investigation of Cloud-systems in the Tropics field campaign that occurred last summer in the Atlantic. His advisor was Kerry Emanuel.
	Jinbo, who has been working on  instabilities of eastern boundary currents is heading to WHOI to take up a postdoc. working with Amala Mahadevan on bio-physical interactions in the ocean surface mixed layer. His advisors were Paola Rizzoli and Mike Spall (WHOI).

PAOC also saw 3 undergraduates obtain batchelors degrees:

• Anastasia (Stacey) Maheras who returns to PAOC this fall to begin a masters with Kerry Emanuel.
• Todd Mooring who moves on to Princeton to persue graduate studies in climate and atmospheric science.
• John (Vince) Agard who returns to begin PAOC's atmospheric science graduate degree program.

You can read more about their senior thesis work in last week's spotlight story.