Scientific Interests
As a microbial ecologist and biogeochemist, Elizabeth is broadly interested in how microorganisms and abiotic reactions influence global biogeochemical cycles across scales in aquatic ecosystems, particularly in their roles in the production and consumption of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O).
Her primary research focuses on understanding the dynamics of N2O production and consumption in marine and freshwater surface waters, examining both abiotic and biotic pathways, as well as environmental drivers such as sunlight and oxygen availability. Her recent work has led to the discovery of a novel abiotic pathway for nitrous oxide formation: the photochemical production of N2O, or photochemodenitrification.
She continues to work on this important discovery, combining laboratory experiments and field campaigns in Greenland (2022), the Eastern Tropical South Pacific Ocean (ETSP, 2023), and, next July 2025, on the North Atlantic Ocean.
History
Currently, Elizabeth is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow working with Prof. Bess B. Ward in the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University, where she investigates the photochemical production of N2O in the surface ocean. Previously, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Carolin Löscher at Nordcee in the University of Southern Denmark, where she investigated nitrous oxide sinks and sources in the surface waters of the coast of west Greenland and the Baltic Sea.
She pursued a Ph.D. at the University of Granada (UGR) under the guidance of Profs. Isabel Reche and Rafael Morales-Baquero. She defender her thesis, titled “Greenhouse Gases in Reservoirs: From Watersheds to Functional Genes” in 2021, and received a summa cum laude qualification. Her thesis was later awarded The Best PhD Thesis in Limnology 2021 by the Iberian Society for Limnology (AIL) and subsequently received Third Prize for the Best European PhD Thesis in Freshwater Sciences for 2021-2022 by the European Federation for Freshwater Sciences (EFFS).
She earned a BSc in Biology from the UGR in 2014, where she was honored with the bachelor’s degree Extraordinary Award by the UGR, and the National Award for Excellence in Academic Performance by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities. She also obtained an MSc in Microbiology from the same university in 2015.
