Steven Adams

Zara Ahmed is a highly experienced public health strategist and advisor currently working on the COVID-19 response. Previously she was the Guttmacher Institute’s Associate Director of Federal Issues, a role in which she coordinated the Institute’s advocacy agenda at the federal level and developed strategies to advance sexual and reproductive health for both global and domestic programs. Before joining Guttmacher, Dr. Ahmed spent nearly 10 years with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including seven years based overseas in Rwanda, Namibia and Haiti as a senior technical advisor, and three years as the Associate Director for Policy and Communications in the Division of Global Health Protection at CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Prior to her time with CDC, she worked as a sexual health counselor at an alternative high school in Michigan and as a consultant in Bangladesh on the labor rights of migrant women. Dr. Ahmed has also conducted field research on sex worker rights in Cambodia, health financing in rural Cameroon and donor coordination of malaria programs in Senegal. She holds a BA in political science from Brown University, MPP and MPH degrees from the University of Michigan, and a DrPH from the University of North Carolina, where she is also an adjunct instructor.   

Dr. Lily Pfeifer is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the School of Geosciences, University of Oklahoma. Working with Dr. Lynn Soreghan, she applies tools in sedimentology, geochronology, and geochemistry  to address questions about carbon cycling in ancient climate systems (~300 million years ago) which mirror today’s world in its global transition out of icehouse conditions.  Originally from Connecticut, she holds a BS in Geology from Bucknell University and an MS & PhD in Geology from the University of Oklahoma. Between graduate degrees, she spent a year working as a data analyst for an investment company, and three years gaining industry perspective as a petroleum geologist in Houston, TX including projects in international exploration (subsurface mapping & reservoir characterization) and development (planning and implementation of horizontal wells in the Permian Basin, West TX). She has additional interests in conservation (of land and native species, particularly in the vast grasslands of the U.S.), climate & geoscience science education (K-12+), and the application of earth systems science to solve society’s imminent issues with regards to a human-induced and rapid warming in the Anthropocene.  

Nina Webb is a Associate Research Scientist at Impossible Sensing in St. Louis, Missouri where she works on a variety of projects focused on developing small, portable spectrometers (LIBS, Raman, etc.) for use in extreme environments, such as outer space and the deep ocean. Her current work consists of experimental design, general assembly of mechanical and optical components, and instrument testing and verification.  She was a previous graduate student at the University of Oklahoma with Dr. Megan Elwood Madden where she earned her MS in geology. Her experience in geochemistry included utilizing Raman spectroscopy to analyze dissolution experiments to learn how brines and minerals interact to extend our knowledge to other planetary bodies, such as Mars.  Additional research includes examining the effects of climate on chemical weathering values in fluvial sediments collected in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria and mass wasting events. Development and understanding of water and near-surface processes associated with climate change can expand our knowledge for future potential impacts both on Earth and Mars.   

Akiva currently works as a design automation engineer in an injection molding and tooling company. He has a mechanical engineering degree from Clarkson University and is finishing his master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Vermont with a thesis on the finite element deformation of nanowire networks. He has over 10 years of experience in production engineering and CAD/CAM. 

Advisor

Dr. Caitlin Hodges is an Assistant Professor of Critical Zone Geoscience at the University of Oklahoma. Trained as a soil biogeochemist, her work focuses on the role that soils play in the cycling of carbon and other elements in the earth system. Specifically, she researches the mechanisms by which soil minerals regulate the retention of organic carbon within soils and control carbon dioxide flux from soils due to organic matter decomposition. The understandings gained from this fundamental work address the challenges we face in a world of rapid environmental change. Her lab’s analytical toolbox consists of both laboratory and field techniques, including traditional soil mineral extractions, field monitoring of elemental and nutrient fluxes, geophysical proximal sensing, and novel sensor arrays. Dr. Hodges received her Ph.D. in Soil Science and Biogeochemistry from Pennsylvania State University and her M.S. in Ecology from the University of Georgia. 

Advisor

Dr. Lynn Soreghan is a David Boren Professor and Eberly Family Chair and Director of Geosciences at the University of Oklahoma. She studies sediments and sedimentary rocks in the field and lab as a means to understand the history and behavior of Earth's climate system, and especially enjoys collaborations with others. Topics of interest include the geologic record of atmospheric dust and loess, weathering, how dust and weathering impact carbon cycling, and glaciation in deep time. Much of her work is focused on the Late Paleozoic Earth system - our only example of icehouse collapse on a planet with a well-developed terrestrial biosphere. Lynn earned her B.S. (Geology) from UCLA and her PhD (Geosciences) from the University of Arizona.