UMass IGS Faculty: PILSKALN

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Professor PILSKALN, CYNTHIA H. (Dartmouth)
Professor of Biogeochemistry; School for Marine Science and Technology at The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Phone: (508) 910-6327
Email: cpilskaln@umassd.edu

**Disclaimer: Condensed CVs for the School of Marine Sciences. For a full CV, please contact the professor.**

Research Interests:
Expertise: Marine biogeochemistry and sedimentology. Research interests: Geochemical particle fluxes in the ocean and large lake systems with emphasis on the quantitative relationship of such fluxes to climate forcing over short and long time scales, and to the formation of recent sediment record; organic carbon cycling and POC aggregation and degradation processes in the water column and at the sediment/water interface; role of mid - water aggregates in carbon and silica remineralization and export fluxes; development and use of particle imaging instrumentation and submersible vehicle - based technology for the in - situ study of marine particulates.

Education:
B.A., (Geology), University of Vermont, 1978

M.A., (Geological Sciences), Harvard University, 1980

Ph.D., (Geological Sciences), Harvard University, 1985
Doctoral thesis: The fecal pellet fraction of oceanic particle flux. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 254 p.

Professional History:
School for Marine Science and Technology at The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Professor, 2006 - Present.

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Senior Research Scientist, 2001 - 2006.

Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre, Univ. of Tasmania, Visiting Academic Scientist, 2000 (on research sabbatical from Univ. of Maine).

University of Maine, Department of Oceanography/School of Marine Sciences, Associate Professor of Oceanography, 1993 - 2001: First female faculty member hired into Dept. of Oceanography: Awarded tenure 1999.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Assistant Scientist, 1988 - 1993. First female Research Scientist hired at MBARI.

Duke University Marine Laboratory, Research Associate/Adjunct Assistant Professor, Duke University Geology Department, 1986 - 1988.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Visiting Investigator, 1985.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Post - Doctoral Associate, 1984 - 1986.

Harvard University, Research Assistant, 1980.

United States Geological Survey, Submarine Geology, Field Assistant, 1980 - 1981.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Research Assistant (part - time for Physical Oceanography, Marine Geology and Geophysics, and Ocean Engineering Depts.), 1979 - 1984.

Current Research Support:
NSF/OPP/Antarctic Program: 1998 - 2004: $513,926: POC Production and Export in the Southern Indian Ocean: A US - China Collaborative Program.

NSF/Bio. Oce.: 2001 - 2005: $492,414: Collaborative Research: Rhizosolenia Mats as a Source of Nitrogen Flux into the Surface Waters of the Pacific Ocean.

ONR/Environmental Optics: 2000 - 2005: $295,832: Chalk - Ex: Transport of Optically Active Particles from the Surface Mixed Layer.

*NSF ITR Program: 2005 - 2008: $284,827: ITR Collaborative Research: Interactive Software Systems for Expert - Assisted Image Analysis and Classification of Aquatic Particles.

*NOAA/ECOHAB: 2004 - 2007: $422,201: Alexandrium spp. Cyst Dynamics in the Gulf of Maine: Delivery, Deposition, and Resuspension.

*NOAA/ECOHAB: 2006 - 2011: $831,883: GOMTOX: Dynamics of Alexandrium fundyense Distributions in the Gulf of Maine - An Observational and Modeling Study of Nearshore and Offshore Shellfish Toxicity, Vertical Toxin Flux, and Bloom Dynamics in a Complex Shelf Sea.

Selected Publications:
Pilskaln, C.H., T. A. Villareal, M. Dennett, C. Darkangelo - Wood and G. Meadows. 2005. High concentrations of marine snow and diatom algal mats in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre: implications for carbon and nitrogen cycles in the oligotrophic ocean. Deep - Sea Research Part I, 52, 2325 - 2332.

Newell, C.R., C.H. Pilskaln, S.M. Robinson and B.A. MacDonald. 2005. The contribution of marine snow to the particle food supply of the benthic suspension feeder, Mytilus edulis. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 321 (2), 109 - 124.

Pilskaln, C. H. 2005. Autobiographical Sketches of Women in Oceanography. Oceanography Magazine, 18 (1), p. 188.

Pilskaln, C.H. 2004. Seasonal and interannual particle export in an African Rift Valley Lake: A five - year record from Lake Malawi, southern East Africa. Limnology and Oceanography, 49, 964 - 977

Pilskaln, C. H., S.J. Manganini, V.L. Asper, T.W. Trull, W. Howard, L. Armand and R. Massom. 2004. Biogeochemical particle fluxes in the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean: 1998 - 2001. Deep - Sea Research I, 51, 307 - 322.

Pilskaln, C.H., V.L. Asper and S.J. Manganini. 2003. US - China collaborative research program on particulate organic matter export in the Southern Indian Ocean, East Antarctica. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 34, (final issue on - line).

Xu, J.P., M. Noble, S.L. Eittriem, L.K. Rosenfeld, F.B. Schwing and C.H. Pilskaln. 2002. Distribution and transport of suspended particulate matter in Monterey canyon, California. Marine Geology, 181, 215 - 234.

Pilskaln, C.H. and J. Pike. 2001. Formation of sedimentary laminae in the Black Sea and the role of the benthic flocculent layer. Paleoceanography, 16, 1 - 19.

Prahl, F. G., and C.H. Pilskaln and M.A. Sparrow. 2001. Seasonal record for alkenones in sedimentary particles from the Gulf of Maine. Deep - Sea Research, 48, 515 - 528.

Shipe, R.F., M.A. Brzezinski, C.H. Pilskaln and T.A. Villareal. 1999. Rhizosolenia mats: an overlooked source of silica production in the open sea. Limnology and Oceanography, 44, 1282 - 1292.

Villareal, T.A., C. H. Pilskaln, M.A. Brzezinski, F. Lipschultz and G.B. Gardner. 1999. Upward oceanic nitrate transport by migrating diatom mats. Nature, 397, 423 - 425.

Silver, M.W., S.L. Coale, C.H. Pilskaln and F.P. Chavez. 1998. Exploratory observations of marine aggregates sub - euphotic depths. Deep - Sea Research II, 45, 1839 - 1862

Pilskaln, C.H., C. Lehmann, J.B. Paduan and M.W. Silver. 1998. Spatial and temporal dynamics in marine aggregate abundance, sinking rate and flux: Monterey Bay, central California. Deep - Sea Research II, 45, 1803 - 1837.