Early Career: Technician Support for an organic and stable isotope biogeochemistry laboratory focused on climate and water-related natural hazards

该项目将资助一名全职技术人员在布法罗大学生物地球化学实验室工作三年。首席研究员是一名早期职业的地球科学家，他将开展研究，重点了解与气候变化有关的水资源可用性变化机制。该实验室通过检查沉积物来重建过去的气候，这些沉积物记录了过去环境条件的微小地球化学特征。这些研究将在世界各地的样本上进行，包括人口众多、粮食产量高的温带地区，以及海冰损失将影响降水、进而影响冰盖和海平面上升的北极系统。研究结果对干旱、洪水、极端风暴事件和冰盖质量损失的规划具有重要的社会意义。该项目将加强首席研究员与布法罗奥杜邦协会在教育和推广方面的合作关系，其中包括每周收集沉积物和降水样本的公民科学家项目活动。布法罗大学为一名全职技术人员提供为期三年的资助，将立即提高一名早期职业地球科学家的研究效率，并为该职位的长期支持奠定基础。该技术人员将受雇于首席研究员的有机和稳定同位素生物地球化学实验室，该实验室拥有最先进的样品提取、制备和高空间和时间分辨率分析设备。该实验室的研究目标是为与气候变化相关的水相关变化提供史前背景和机制理解。潜在的有害后果，如干旱、洪水、极端风暴事件和冰盖质量损失，具有高度的社会和环境意义，因为它们影响生态系统的稳定性、水电和农业生产，以及冰盖和海平面上升。实验室研究能力的提高使其能够与布法罗奥杜邦协会合作开展更多的教育和推广活动，包括教授不同群体关于纽约冰川和气候历史的知识，让学龄夏令营团体参与样本收集，参加让年轻人接触广泛的环境职业的职业日，以及分析来自公民科学项目的样本。

This project will fund a full-time technician for three years in the Biogeochemistry Laboratory at the University at Buffalo. The principal investigator is an early-career geoscientist who will conduct research focused on understanding mechanisms of changes in water availability related to climate variability. The laboratory reconstructs past climate by examining sediments that record minute geochemical signatures of past environmental conditions. The studies will be conducted on samples from all around the world, including temperate regions, where large populations and food production occur, and the Arctic system, where sea ice loss will affect precipitation and in turn affect ice sheets and sea level rise. The research results have important societal implications for planning for droughts, floods, extreme storm events, and ice sheet mass loss. The project will enhance the principal investigator's partnership with the Buffalo Audubon Society for education and outreach, which includes a citizen-scientist program activity for the collection of weekly sediment and precipitation samples.The funding of a full-time technician at the University at Buffalo for three years will immediately increase the research productivity of an early-career geoscientist and establish the basis for long-term support for the position. The technician will be employed in the principal investigator's Organic and Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Laboratory, which contains state-of-the-art equipment for sample extraction, preparation, and analysis at high spatial and temporal resolution. The laboratory's research goal is to provide prehistorical context for and mechanistic understanding of water-related changes associated with climate change. Potentially harmful consequences, such as droughts, floods, extreme storm events, and ice sheet mass loss, are of high societal and environmental significance, as they affect ecosystem stability, hydroelectric and agricultural production, and ice sheets and sea level rise. The increased research capacity of the laboratory enables more activities in the education and outreach partnership with the Buffalo Audubon Society, which includes teaching diverse groups about the glacial and climate history of New York, involving school-age summer camp groups in sample collection, participating in career days that expose young adults to a broad range of environmental careers, and analyzing samples from a citizen-science program.