Claudia Benitez-Nelson Explained
Claudia Benitez-Nelson |
Alma Mater: | University of WashingtonMassachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program |
Known For: | OceanographyMarine Geochemistry & BiogeochemistryMentoring |
Awards: | The Oceanography Society Mentoring Award, For Excellence and/or Innovation in Mentoring the Next Generation of Ocean Scientists (2021)American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow (2015)Ocean Sciences Early Career Award, American Geophysical Union (AGU) (2006) |
Claudia Benitez-Nelson is a Latinx American oceanographer whose research focuses on marine geochemistry and biogeochemistry. A Carolina Distinguished Professor,[1] she serves as the Senior Associate Dean for College Initiatives and Interdisciplinary Programs at the University of South Carolina’s College of Arts and Sciences.[2]
Career and research
Claudia Benitez-Nelson grew up in Seattle, Washington and attended the University of Washington, where she earned B.S. Degrees in Chemistry and Oceanography in 1992. She received her doctoral degree in Oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in 1999.[3] Upon graduation, Benitez-Nelson was named a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Hawaii[4] as well as a School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) Young Investigator. In 2002, Benitez-Nelson joined the University of South Carolina (USC).[5] She earned tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2006 and was promoted to Full Professor in 2010. Benitez-Nelson served as the Undergraduate Director and then Director of USC's Marine Science Program.[6]
Benitez-Nelson’s research centers on the mechanisms that influence the formation, composition, and downward transport of material from the surface ocean to depth. This research directly relates to biological production and diversity and the ocean’s role in the uptake and sequestration of greenhouse gases, nutrients, toxins and trace metals. She has been a leader in developing new techniques that use both novel chemical approaches (i.e., Benitez-Nelson et al, 2004; Diaz et al, 2008; Sekula-Wood et al, 2009; McParland et al., 2015) and sample collection methods with naturally occurring short-lived radionuclides (i.e., Benitez-Nelson and Buesseler, 1998; Benitez-Nelson et al., 2001; Buesseler et al. 2001; Benitez-Nelson and Moore, 2006 (and references therein); White et al., 2013). She has authored or coauthored more than 130 articles, which have been published in premier, high impact journals such as PlosOne, Geophysical Research Letters, Nature and Science, and has been the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on substantial, multi-year research and education grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), among others.[7] Her research has received international acclaim and includes the Early Career Award[8] in Oceanography from the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Fulbright and Marie Curie Fellowships, and being named National Academies of Science/Humboldt Foundation Kavli Fellow, an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow, and a Sustaining Fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO).[9] [10] Her many professional service duties include serving as Chair of the International Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Capacity Building Committee, National Academy of Science Ocean Studies Board,[11] and as an elected member of the AGU Ocean Sciences Section and ASLO Executive Committees. Benitez-Nelson is also highly regarded as a teacher, receiving many teaching honors, including the Mungo Distinguished Professor Award, the UofSC’s highest undergraduate teaching award.[12]
Awards and honors
Benitez-Nelson was an elected fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and has been awarded the Ocean Sciences Early Career Award by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Some of her other awards and honors include:
- The Oceanography Society Mentoring Award, For Excellence and/or Innovation in Mentoring the Next Generation of Ocean Scientists, 2021[13]
- Sustaining Fellow, Association for the Sciences of Limnology & Oceanography, 2017
- SEC Faculty Achievement Award, 2016[14]
- Ada B. Thomas Outstanding Faculty Advisor of the Year Award, UofSC, 2016
- Sulzman Award for Excellence in Education and Mentoring, Biogeosciences Section, American Geophysical Union, 2014[15]
- Mungo Distinguished Professor, UofSC, 2013
- National Academies of Science/Humboldt Foundation Kavli Fellow, 2012
- Faculty of the Year, National Award from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (for outstanding undergraduate mentoring and leadership), 2005
- S. Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation (SCAMP) Outstanding Mentor, 2002
- Environmental Protection Agency STAR Graduate Fellowship, 1996–1998[16]
Selected publications
- McCabe . Kelly M. . Smith . Erik M. . Lang . Susan Q. . Osburn . Christopher L. . Benitez-Nelson . Claudia R. . Particulate and Dissolved Organic Matter in Stormwater Runoff Influences Oxygen Demand in Urbanized Headwater Catchments . Environmental Science & Technology . 19 January 2021 . 55 . 2 . 952–961 . 10.1021/acs.est.0c04502 . 33405913 . 2021EnST...55..952M . 230809983 . free .
- Osborne . Emily B. . Thunell . Robert C. . Gruber . Nicolas . Feely . Richard A. . Benitez-Nelson . Claudia R. . Decadal variability in twentieth-century ocean acidification in the California Current Ecosystem . Nature Geoscience . January 2020 . 13 . 1 . 43–49 . 10.1038/s41561-019-0499-z . 2020NatGe..13...43O . 209381004 .
- Umhau . Blaire . Benitez-Nelson . Claudia . Anderson . Clarissa . McCabe . Kelly . Burrell . Christopher . A Time Series of Water Column Distributions and Sinking Particle Flux of Pseudo-Nitzschia and Domoic Acid in the Santa Barbara Basin, California . Toxins . 17 November 2018 . 10 . 11 . 480 . 10.3390/toxins10110480 . 30453659 . 6265954 . free .
- Humphries . Marc S. . Benitez-Nelson . Claudia R. . Recent trends in sediment and nutrient accumulation rates in coastal, freshwater Lake Sibaya, South Africa . Marine and Freshwater Research . 2013 . 64 . 11 . 1087 . 10.1071/MF12313 .
- Stukel . Michael R. . Landry . Michael R. . Ohman . Mark D. . Goericke . Ralf . Samo . Ty . Benitez-Nelson . Claudia R. . Do inverse ecosystem models accurately reconstruct plankton trophic flows? Comparing two solution methods using field data from the California Current . Journal of Marine Systems . March 2012 . 91 . 1 . 20–33 . 10.1016/j.jmarsys.2011.09.004 . 2012JMS....91...20S . 32721478 .
- Diaz . Julia . Ingall . Ellery . Benitez-Nelson . Claudia . Paterson . David . de Jonge . Martin D. . McNulty . Ian . Brandes . Jay A. . Marine Polyphosphate: A Key Player in Geologic Phosphorus Sequestration . Science . 2 May 2008 . 320 . 5876 . 652–655 . 10.1126/science.1151751 . 18451299 . 2008Sci...320..652D . 41092139 .
- Benitez-Nelson . Claudia R. . Bidigare . Robert R. . Dickey . Tommy D. . Landry . Michael R. . Leonard . Carrie L. . Brown . Susan L. . Nencioli . Francesco . Rii . Yoshimi M. . Maiti . Kanchan . Becker . Jamie W. . Bibby . Thomas S. . Black . Wil . Cai . Wei-Jun . Carlson . Craig A. . Chen . Feizhou . Kuwahara . Victor S. . Mahaffey . Claire . McAndrew . Patricia M. . Quay . Paul D. . Rappé . Michael S. . Selph . Karen E. . Simmons . Melinda P. . Yang . Eun Jin . Mesoscale Eddies Drive Increased Silica Export in the Subtropical Pacific Ocean . Science . 18 May 2007 . 316 . 5827 . 1017–1021 . 10.1126/science.1136221 . 17510362 . 2007Sci...316.1017B . 24522740 .
- Buesseler . K.O. . Benitez-Nelson . C.R. . Moran . S.B. . Burd . A. . Charette . M. . Cochran . J.K. . Coppola . L. . Fisher . N.S. . Fowler . S.W. . Gardner . W.D. . Guo . L.D. . Gustafsson . Ö. . Lamborg . C. . Masque . P. . Miquel . J.C. . Passow . U. . Santschi . P.H. . Savoye . N. . Stewart . G. . Trull . T. . An assessment of particulate organic carbon to thorium-234 ratios in the ocean and their impact on the application of 234Th as a POC flux proxy . Marine Chemistry . August 2006 . 100 . 3–4 . 213–233 . 10.1016/j.marchem.2005.10.013 . 2006MarCh.100..213B .
External links
References
- Web site: Carolina Distinguished Professors Announced – Office of the Provost University of South Carolina . 2023-03-10 . www.sc.edu.
- Web site: Office of the Dean – College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina . 2022-11-29 . sc.edu.
- Phosphorus cycling in the Gulf of Maine : a multi-tracer approach . Massachusetts Institute of Technology . 1998 . Thesis . Claudia R. . Benitez-Nelson. 1721.1/9651 .
- Web site: Claudia Benitez-Nelson CPAESS – Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science. 2021-04-25. cpaess.ucar.edu.
- Web site: Our People – School of the Earth, Ocean & Environment University of South Carolina. 2021-04-25. sc.edu.
- Web site: Claudia Benitez-Nelson – College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina . 2022-11-29 . sc.edu . en.
- Web site: Claudia Benitez-Nelson. 2021-04-25. scholar.google.com.
- Web site: Benitez-Nelson Receives 2006 Ocean Sciences Early Career Award . 2023-03-10 . Honors Program . en-US.
- Web site: Claudia Benitez-Nelson. 2021-04-25. www.nasonline.org.
- Web site: ASLO Fellows 2016 . 2023-03-10 . ASLO . en-US.
- Web site: https://www.nationalacademies.org/osb/about . 2023-03-10 . www.nationalacademies.org.
- Web site: Internal Faculty Award Recipients – Office of the Provost University of South Carolina. 2021-04-25. sc.edu.
- Web site: Mentoring Award Recipients The Oceanography Society . 2023-03-10 . tos.org.
- Web site: SEC announces 2016 Faculty Achievement Award winners . 2023-03-10 . www.secsports.com.
- Web site: Sulzman Award for Excellence in Education and Mentoring . 2023-03-10 . AGU . en.
- Web site: US EPA . ORD . Phosphorus Cycling in the Gulf of Maine: A Multitracer Approach Research Project Database Grantee Research Project ORD US EPA . 2023-03-10 . cfpub.epa.gov . en.