August Aalto

I'm a third-year PhD candidate in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences co-supervised by Profs. Daniel Breecker and Paola Passalacqua. I'm interested in soil science, geomorphology, remote sensing, history of science, and environmental history and impact. For my PhD research, I'm pursuing a process-based understanding of soil development in deltaic wetlands for new insight into the dynamic role of organic matter in the growth and maintenance of deltas.

During my PhD, I have contributed to Breecker Lab research that uses the stable carbon isotope ratios of snail shells in the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory (TARL) collection to study the extent and type of paleovegetation cover across the wide aridity gradient of Texas. This research aims to improve understanding of how vegetation responds to shifts in climate and anthropogenic forcings during the Holocene. In Spring 2024 and Spring 2025, I was the teaching assistant for the upper-level Aqueous Geochemistry course under Prof. Daniel Breecker.

I have an ScB with concentrations in Geology-Chemistry and History from Brown University. I wrote my undergraduate thesis under Prof. Tim Herbert on geochemical constraints on the provenance, mixing, and discharge of particulate organic carbon in the Beni River, Bolivia. I also have an MSc in History of Science, Medicine and Technology from the University of Oxford. I wrote my master's dissertation under Prof. Catherine Jackson on scientific criticisms of the Gaia hypothesis and their historical context within broader demarcation problem disputes in the late 20th century.