August 28, 2014
Geology professor awarded research funding through the Kansas EPSCoR program
Matthew Kirk, assistant professor of geology, recently received funding through the Kansas Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, First Awards in Climate or Energy Research program.
Along with Kirk, a postdoctoral researcher and undergraduate student will carry out the study, which will examine environmental controls on aquifer microbiology. Improving our understanding of fundamental controls on microbial populations in geological environments is important because it will help us predict and manage consequences of future environmental changes.
The experiments funded by the award will focus on understanding how variation in the flux of energy sources affects interactions between groups of microorganisms that are common in the subsurface and strongly influence water quality.