Welcome to our lab!
Jessica Oster
B.A. Oberlin College
Ph.D. University of California, Davis
Associate Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Graduate Students
Bethan Lodge (Ph.D. Student)
B.A. Bryn Mawr College
MRes University of Leeds
I graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 2022 with a B.A. in Geology and minors in Russian and Dance. I graduated with an MRes from the University of Leeds in Climate and Atmospheric Science in 2024, with my research focusing on the crystallographic microstructure of planktonic foraminifera. I am interested in exploring past climate using speleothem records.
Aida Zyba (Ph.D. Student)
B.S. Washington University
M.S. Vanderbilt University 2024
In 2022, I graduated with my Bachelor's degree in Environmental Earth Science from Washington University in St. Louis while also assisting with paleoclimate research involving lake sediments from South America. I am currently interested in exploring the climate record of White Moon Cave in California as well as integrating novel fire proxies to assess the karst system's paleoclimate-fire relationship.
Bryce Belanger (Ph.D. Student)
B.S. Middlebury College
M.S. Vanderbilt University 2022
I graduated from Middlebury College in 2019, where I majored Geology and conducted research focused on reconstructing past climate using dated lake shorelines. Currently, I am working to build a climate history for Titan Cave in northern Wyoming, looking specifically at hydroclimate dynamics during the late-Holocene. In the past, I worked as a research assistant at Mammoth Cave National Park, where I helped expand an extensive database of cave and karst features in the park.
Erica Scarpitti (M.S. 2024)
B.S. The Ohio State University
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Cameron de Wet (Ph.D. 2023)
B.S. Bowdoin College
M.S. Vanderbilt University 2019
now a Visiting Assistant Professor at Middlebury College
Cameron de Wet caving in California.
Read Cameron’s papers in GRL: Semi-Quantitative Estimates of Rainfall Variability during the 8.2kyr Event in California using Speleothem Calcium Isotope Ratios
and Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology: North American hydroclimate during past warms states: A proxy compilation-model comparison for the Last Interglacial and the mid-Holocene
Elli Ronay (M.S. 2018)
B.S. Rice University
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
read Elli Ronay’s paper in Scientific Reports: Sensitivity of speleothem records in the Indian Summer Monsoon region to dry season infiltration
Izzy Weisman (M.S. 2017)
B.A. Hamilton College
Oxygen and carbon isotope variations in precipitation and speleothem calcite from a northern California cave: Implications for paleoclimate reconstructions during the Late Pleistocene
*published in Quaternary Science Reviews
Izzy and Jessica after caving in Tennessee, 2017
Nick Hermann (M.S. 2016)
B.A. University of St. Thomas
Spatial Patterns and Driving Mechanisms of Mid-Holocene Hydroclimate in Western North America*
*published in Journal of Quaternary Science
Chris Myers (M.S. 2014)
B.A. Plymouth State University
Northeast Indian stalagmite records Pacific decadal climate change: Implications for moisture transport and drought in India*
*published in Geophysical Research Letters
Postdocs
Isaiah Bolden
B.S. Bowdoin College
Ph.D. University of Washington 2020
Academic Pathways Postdoctoral Fellow.
Now a faculty member at Georgia Tech
Bryce Belanger, Jessica Oster, and Berkeley Geochronology Center Postdoc Christopher Kinsley outside of Hato Cave, Curaçao.
Bryce Belanger and Cameron de Wet install a Syp autosampler in Titan Cave, Wyoming.
Undergraduate Students
Carolina Rocha Lima (VU 2025) and Isaiah Bolden filter cave drip water samples in Curaçao.
Lab group field trip to Blue Spring Cave, spring 2022. L to R: Bryce Belanger, Isaiah Bolden, Cameron de Wet, Callie Hilgenhurst (VU 2023), Nina Susich (VU 2022), Aakash Manapat (VU 2023).
Nina Susich (VU Class of 2022) drilling samples from a stalagmite for stable oxygen and carbon isotope analysis.
Senior honor’s student Hannah Quick (VU Class of 2021) measures an elevation profile for a transect of well sites on the Tennessee State University Research Farm.
Hannah Salaverry (VU class of 2020) presents her research at the AGU Fall meeting in San Francisco in December 2019.
Jessica with graduate student Cameron de Wet, and Yiruo Xu (VU class of 2021) after caving in California.
Theresa Miller (VU class of 2018) sampling stream water in Peru.
Vanderbilt School for Science and Math (SSMV)
Devan Reilly (SSMV Class of 2025) with Jessica Oster, Bryce Belanger, and Aida Zyba after caving in Wyoming.
Callie Hilgenhurst (VU Class of 2023) and Eli Kane (SSMV Class of 2023) filter water in Mammoth Cave National Park to evaluate the presence of microplastics in cave streams.
Kate Neal (SSMV class of 2019) sampling water in Lake Shasta Caverns, California.
Dr. Oster with Dr. Angela Eeds (SSMV), Izzy Weisman (Vandy EES) and SSMV students after a cave trip in spring 2017.