Congrats to Nina and Mary Ann for their publication with collaborators on hydrocarbon degradation and microbiomes! Nina did a fantastic job analyzing the microbiome data for this publication. Here is a link to the paper in Applied Soil Ecology: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929139321001359#!

Doctoral candidate, Mara Cloutier, passes her PhD defense. Her dissertation, titled ‘toward understanding the impact of management practices on soil microbial nitrogen dynamics in agroecosystems’ focused on how practices to build soil health can influence soil greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Great job, Mara!!

Master’s student, Devyn Mcpheeter’s was awarded second place at the recent Gamma Sigma Delta expo at Penn State. Devyn’s research was presented in the Biological Sciences category and was focused on soil health in a sustainable dairy cropping systems project. Congrats, Devyn!

Dr. Bruns was recently elected to the ASM Council on Microbial Sciences (COMS). To find out more about COMS visit the website

Emily Ball sets thesis defense date of March 13th at 3pm where she will be discussing her research on “Effects of Management on Selected Soil Properties and Nitrous Oxide Fluxes in Dairy Cropping Systems”