PhD student

I am a Ph. D. student interested in the effect of microbial community processes on ecosystem processes. By working in soil I hope to strengthen our knowledge about interactions between physical, chemical, and biological processes at different scales. More specifically, I study the link between soil microbial activity and greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, CH4, and N2O) in agro-ecosystems at the Uthe Farm Landscape Biomass Project.

I am a Ph. D. student interested in soil microbial community function and prairie restoration. Specifically, I am measuring the effects of soil aggregate size distribution and pore space distribution within aggregates on soil enzyme activity and organic matter turn-over. My field site, the Iowa State Comparison of Biofuel Systems (COBS) includes replicates of two planted prairie treatments (unfertilized and fertilized) in addition to several traditional cropping systems.

I am a PhD Candidate in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program. I am interested in the effect of environmental gradients and land management on microbial community abundance and activity and, in turn, how changes in microbial communities feedback to influence nutrient cycling. My research focuses on the effect of alternative biomass cropping systems on carbon and nitrogen cycling, with specific focus on denitrification at the Landscape Biomass Project @ the Uthe Farm.
Email: sharg(at)iastate.edu
Website: http://sharg.public.iastate.edu

I'm a PhD student in the Microbiology dept rotating through Dr. Hofmockel's lab. I have a master's studying the microbial ecology of leaf decomposition from Ole Miss (go Rebels!!) and a BS in Microbiology from Chico State in California.