Katy Sparrow

Dr. Katy Sparrow is from Cary, North Carolina. She was awarded a PhD in Geological Sciences from the University of Rochester in March, 2017. Sparrow first became interested in Earth Science in high school and attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where she studied the fields of Oceanography and Global Climate Change. Upon graduating from UNCW in May, 2011 with a B.S. in Oceanography, she decided to work towards contributing to what is known about methane dynamics in the ocean. From 2011 to 2016, Sparrow completed her doctoral studies with Professor John Kessler, first at Texas A&M University and then at the University of Rochester, culminating in her thesis, “Assessing the contribution of methane sourced from ancient carbon in the Alaskan Arctic Ocean to the modern atmosphere.” To answer her research questions about whether or not ancient Arctic Ocean carbon stores will exacerbate modern day climate change, Sparrow spent years developing new methods to radiocarbon date the methane dissolved in ocean waters. In 2017, Sparrow continued using carbon isotopes to study the relevance of Arctic methane sources as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Stockholm in Sweden. In July 2018, Sparrow began working at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida as a Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow. With Professor Jeff Chanton from the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (Environmental Science) at FSU, she continues to use carbon isotopes to study pressing questions about the carbon cycle and ongoing climate change. Sparrow was awarded the People’s Choice Award in the 5 Minute Research competition at the FSU Fall Postdoctoral Symposium in 2018 and 2019.

Tagged: Five Minute Research (5MR)