Patty Standring

Co-advised by Dr. Chris Lowery and Dr. Rowan Martindale for PhD. Current research is focused on deep ocean current changes in the southern Gulf of Mexico, surface circulation changes in the western Atlantic around the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) using stable isotopes from benthic and planktic foraminifera combined with paleoecology, and determining how these changes may have coincided with development of the North Atlantic Deep Water and foraminiferal extinctions at the EOT. Patty is also testing a method using micro-Computed Tomography scanning of foraminifera as a proxy for deep-sea carbonate dissolution changes during the EOT. Additional research will look at salinity changes and their impact on foraminiferal populations in the western Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian Salinity Crisis as part of International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 401 (Dec 2023-Feb 2024).