Meredith G. Hastings

Last updated
Meredith Hastings
Alma materB.Sc. University of Miami, Coral Gables, Ph.D. Princeton University
Awards
  • 2014, Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award, American Geophysical Union
  • 2014, CAREER Award, National Science Foundation
Scientific career
FieldsAtmospheric Chemistry
Institutions
  • Brown University
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
  • Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean Department of Atmospheric Sciences
Thesis Studies of Reactive Nitrogen in the Atmosphere Using Global Modeling and Stable Isotope Measurements. (2004)
Website https://vivo.brown.edu/display/mhasting

Meredith G. Hastings is an American atmospheric chemist and associate professor of earth, environmental, and planetary sciences at Brown University. [1] Her research focuses on the reactive nitrogen cycle and how atmospheric chemistry affects climate. [2] She is also the founder and president of the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN). [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Hastings graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in marine science and chemistry from the University of Miami, Coral Gables in 1998. [1] After her undergraduate she did a research internship at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, NJ. She credits this position to her interest in atmospheric chemistry. By 2004 Hastings had completed her Ph.D. in the Princeton University department of Geosciences. Her thesis studied reactive nitrogen using measurements of stable isotopes and was titled "Studies of Reactive Nitrogen in the Atmosphere Using Global Modeling and Stable Isotope Measurements". [1]

Career and research

Following her Ph.D. work at Princeton, Hastings became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington in the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean Department of Atmospheric Sciences (JISAO). [4] After completing her postdoctoral work in 2008, Hastings joined the faculty at Brown University as an assistant professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Environmental Change Initiative. In 2015, Hastings became an associate professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Brown University. [5]

Hastings’ work focuses around the reactive nitrogen cycle and using nitrate deposition to see how human activity impacts atmospheric composition. This includes data from a variety of sources such as seawater nitrate levels, freshwater nitrate levels, and ice core nitrate levels. [6] Using this data her studies have come to conclusions about how human activities and environmental responses interact to explain how the climate changes. [7] [8] [9]

In 2014 Hastings launched the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN) as a non-profit, an organization she co-founded in 2002. She is currently president of the non-profit, which seeks to promote women in the earth sciences. [10] The Earth Science Women's Network is a member-driven organization which has had several prominent creations since its inception. In 2014 the ESWN created the Promoting Geoscience, Research, Education and Success (PROGRESS) initiative which focused on determining the role same-gender mentoring on the retention of women in the geosciences. [11] The initiative was funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. In 2017, Hastings and the ESWN partnered with the Association for Women Geoscientists and the American Geophysical Union to launch the ADVANCEGeo Partnership. The partnership seeks to address the issue of sexual harassment in the earth, space and environmental sciences and was also funded by a NSF grant. [12]

Hastings was also the recipient of the Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award, which the American Geophysical Union awarded her in 2014. The award is designed to recognize research by mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences. She was recognized for her work modeling aerosol properties and their impacts on the atmosphere. [13] Hastings was also recognized with a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 2014 supporting her work studying where the nitrous oxide in the atmosphere is being emitted from. The project is entitled Quantifying the Isotopic Signature of Nitrogen Oxides Emissions Sources. [14]

Publications

Hastings' work has been published in several scientific journals, including Science, The Journal of Geophysical Research, Environmental Science & Technology, and Analytical Chemistry. Her most cited publications are listed below:

Awards and recognition

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitrogen</span> Chemical element, symbol N and atomic number 7

Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way and the Solar System. At standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element bond to form N2, a colorless and odorless diatomic gas. N2 forms about 78% of Earth's atmosphere, making it the most abundant uncombined element in air. Because of the volatility of nitrogen compounds, nitrogen is relatively rare in the solid parts of the Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitrogen cycle</span> Biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted into various chemical forms

The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted into multiple chemical forms as it circulates among atmospheric, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems. The conversion of nitrogen can be carried out through both biological and physical processes. Important processes in the nitrogen cycle include fixation, ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification. The majority of Earth's atmosphere (78%) is atmospheric nitrogen, making it the largest source of nitrogen. However, atmospheric nitrogen has limited availability for biological use, leading to a scarcity of usable nitrogen in many types of ecosystems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon-14</span> Isotope of carbon

Carbon-14, C-14, 14
C or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues (1949) to date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples. Carbon-14 was discovered on February 27, 1940, by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California. Its existence had been suggested by Franz Kurie in 1934.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peroxyacetyl nitrate</span> Chemical compound

Peroxyacetyl nitrate is a peroxyacyl nitrate. It is a secondary pollutant present in photochemical smog. It is thermally unstable and decomposes into peroxyethanoyl radicals and nitrogen dioxide gas. It is a lachrymatory substance, meaning that it irritates the lungs and eyes.

Mass-independent isotope fractionation or Non-mass-dependent fractionation (NMD), refers to any chemical or physical process that acts to separate isotopes, where the amount of separation does not scale in proportion with the difference in the masses of the isotopes. Most isotopic fractionations are caused by the effects of the mass of an isotope on atomic or molecular velocities, diffusivities or bond strengths. Mass-independent fractionation processes are less common, occurring mainly in photochemical and spin-forbidden reactions. Observation of mass-independently fractionated materials can therefore be used to trace these types of reactions in nature and in laboratory experiments.

In atmospheric chemistry, NOx is shorthand for nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution. These gases contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain, as well as affecting tropospheric ozone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Geosciences Union</span>

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet." The organisation has headquarters in Munich (Germany). Membership is open to individuals who are professionally engaged in or associated with these fields and related studies, including students and retired seniors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atmosphere of Mars</span> Layer of gases surrounding planet Mars

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The Dole effect, named after Malcolm Dole, describes an inequality in the ratio of the heavy isotope 18O to the lighter 16O, measured in the atmosphere and seawater. This ratio is usually denoted δ18O.

Aradhna Tripati is an American geoscientist, climate scientist, and advocate for diversity. She is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where she is part of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, and the California Nanosystems Institute. She is also the director of the Center for Diverse Leadership in Science. Her research includes advancing new chemical tracers for the study of environmental processes and studying the history of climate change and Earth systems. She is recognized for her research on climate change and clumped isotope geochemistry. She studies the evolution of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the impacts on temperature, the water cycle, glaciers and ice sheets, and ocean acidity.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Meredith Hastings, PhD – Associate Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Brown University". OnlineEducation.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  2. ↑ Hastings, Meredith & Galanter, Meredith. (2019). Studies of reactive nitrogen in the atmosphere using global modeling and stable isotope measurements.
  3. ↑ "Leadership Board – ESWN" . Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  4. ↑ "Group members – The Alexander Group | Atmospheric Sciences | University of Washington" . Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  5. ↑ "Meredith Hastings | Chemistry | Brown University". www.brown.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  6. ↑ Anal. Chem. 200274194905-4912 Publication Date:September 7, 2002
  7. 1 2 G Hastings, JC Jarvis, EJ Steig (2009) Anthropogenic impacts on nitrogen isotopes of ice-core nitrate. Science, 324 (5932), 1288-1288
  8. 1 2 KL Casciotti, DM Sigman, MG Hastings, JK Böhlke, A Hilker (2002) Measurement of the oxygen isotopic composition of nitrate in seawater and freshwater using the denitrifier method. Analytical Chemistry, 74 (19), 4905-4912
  9. 1 2 B Alexander, MG Hastings, DJ Allman, J Dachs, JA Thornton, SA Kunasek (2009) Quantifying atmospheric nitrate formation pathways based on a global model of the oxygen isotopic composition (Δ 17 O) of atmospheric nitrate. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 9 (14), 5043-5056
  10. ↑ "Who We Are – ESWN" . Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  11. ↑ "Progress – Promoting Geoscience Research, Education & Success" . Retrieved 2019-09-15.
  12. ↑ "ADVANCEGeo Partnership". ADVANCEGeo. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
  13. 1 2 "Hastings Receives the 2014 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award". Honors Program. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  14. ↑ "NSF Award Search: Award#1351932 – CAREER: Quantifying the Isotopic Signature of Nitrogen Oxides Emissions Sources". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
  15. ↑ "NSF Award Search: Award#1725424 – ADVANCE Partnership: From the Classroom to the Field: Improving the Workplace in the Geosciences". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
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