Welcome to our lab!

Jessica in a soil pit in Fish Lake Valley, NV.

Jessica in a soil pit in Fish Lake Valley, NV.

Jessica Oster
B.A. Oberlin College
Ph.D. University of California, Davis 2010
Associate Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Graduate Students

Aida Zyba (Ph.D. Student)
B.S. Washington University

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.

Erica Scarpitti (Ph.D. Student)
B.S. The Ohio State University

I am interested in using speleothem records to assess paleoclimate-fire relationships in California across multiple timescales and climate states. This will involve identifying the climate, fire, and environmental signals preserved in stalagmites and integrating these records with other proxies. Prior to joining Dr. Oster's Paleoclimate Lab, I published an article in the Journal of Anatomy focused on vertebrate paleontology and paleoecology. I graduated from Ohio State in 2021 with a B.S. in Earth Science and minors in Sexuality Studies and Environmental Science.

Bryce Belanger (Ph.D. Student)
B.S. Middlebury College
M.S. Vanderbilt University 2022


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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.

Cameron de Wet (Ph.D. 2023)
B.S. Bowdoin College
M.S. Vanderbilt University 2019
now a postdoc at UC Davis

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Cameron de Wet caving in California.

Cameron de Wet caving in California.

Elli Ronay M.S. 2018
B.S. Rice University
NSF Graduate Research Fellow

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

Izzy and Jessica after caving in Tennessee, 2017

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*

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Postdocs

Isaiah Bolden
B.S. Bowdoin College
Ph.D. University of Washington 2020
Academic Pathways Postdoctoral Fellow.
Now a faculty member at Georgia Tech

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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.

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.

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.

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.

Theresa Miller (VU class of 2018) sampling stream water in Peru.

Vanderbilt School for Science and Math (SSMV)

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.

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.

Dr. Oster with Dr. Angela Eeds (SSMV), Izzy Weisman (Vandy EES) and SSMV students after a cave trip in spring 2017.

SSMV students sampling water in Blue Spring Cave, Tennessee

SSMV students sampling water in Blue Spring Cave, Tennessee