The team

Ecologists, biogeochemists, and modelers at Stony Brook University working out how a tiny fern could help with a very large problem.

Five members of the research team smiling together among plants in a greenhouse. — Left to right: Liliana Dávalos, Jim Hoffmann, Sharon Pochron, Jackie Collier, and Darci Swenson Perger.

Sharon Pochron, Ph.D.

Project Lead

Assistant Professor, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences

Runs the project's greenhouse experiments with her lab and undergraduate students, growing Azolla under different conditions to learn how to capture the most carbon.

Earthworm Ecotoxicology Lab
Darci Swenson Perger, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher

School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences

A biogeochemist who leads the day-to-day Azolla growth experiments, including the phosphorus trials that show how to grow the most Azolla with the least fertilizer.
Jim Hoffmann, Ph.D.

Modeling and systems

School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences

Leads the project's modeling and system design, including the ARC (Azolla for Reducing Carbon) model, which uses the team's experiments to predict growth, phosphorus use, and carbon storage.
Jackie Collier, Ph.D.

Microbial ecology and water

Professor and Graduate Program Director, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences

The team's expert on microbial ecology and water, helping the project understand the microbial life in the water where Azolla grows and in the soil where harvested Azolla ends up.

Collier Lab
Liliana Dávalos, Ph.D.

Genetics and statistics

Professor of Conservation Biology, Department of Ecology and Evolution

Brings deep expertise in genetics and evolutionary biology, along with the statistical modeling used to analyze the team's growth data.

Dávalos Lab
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