The department of Geology is please to introduce our new postdoctoral researcher working with Dr. Saugata Datta. Dr. Harshad Kulkarni received a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from India in 2009 and an M.S. from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, in 2012. He also received a Ph.D. from Kansas State University (Department of Civil Engineering) in 2016. His doctoral research focused on investigating the interactions of natural organic matter with arsenic, iron and microbes in the groundwater. After his PhD he worked as a Research Scientist for a consulting fir
m in southern California before returning to K-State to join Dr. Saugata Datta’s research group. He will be working on organic biochemistry and will contribute to Saugata’s research activities funded through a NASA PSTAR grant: Biologic and Resource Analog Investigations in Low Light Environments (BRAILLE), where he will be working on clumped isotope systematics. He will also be working on developing and applying new techniques to identify the role of organic matter, both in dissolved and solid forms, in nutrient and toxic element cycling in low temperature environments. To compliment his research, and as part of his post-doctoral development, Dr. Kulkarni will be teaching the intro-level geology evening courses we offer through Global Campus. More information about Harshad is available on his personal webpage https://harshadkulkarni.weebly.com/