Dr. Erin McParland joined CEOAS as a tenure-track Assistant Professor starting March 25, 2024. Dr. McParland is a marine microbial biogeochemist, and her research aims to quantify the elusive organic molecules that fuel microbial activity. To better understand this rapid flux of carbon, she combines molecular-level characterization of organic matter (metabolomics) with microbial ecology techniques both in the lab using model organisms and in the field on oceanographic research expeditions. Dr. McParland’s teaching interests include ocean literacy in the classroom, training new scientists in the lab, and creating an inclusive oceanographic community. Dr. McParland holds a B.S. degree in Marine Science and Chemical Oceanography with a Chemistry minor from the University of South Carolina and a PhD. in Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography from the University of Southern California. She has held a Postdoctoral Scholar position at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and is currently a Simons Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.