Awards, Publications & Meetings

Publications

Stein, R. A., Sheldon, N. D., & Smith, S. (2019). Rapid response to anthropogenic climate change by Thuja occidentalis: implications for past climate reconstructions and future climate predictions. PeerJ, 7, e7378.

Sheldon, N. D., Smith, S. Y., Stein, R., & Ng, M. (2019). Carbon isotope ecology of gymnosperms and implications for paleoclimatic and paleoecological studies. Global and Planetary Change, 103060.

Awards

February 2020

Evolving Earth Research Grant to sample a long, continuous lacustrine core from the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum paleo-lake Gosiute.

April 2019

Evolving Earth Research Grant to study early Eocene hothouse periods within paleosols in the Rocky Mountains.

October 2018

Library Grant to implement a hands-on activity-based Earth Science program at Ypsilanti Community High School in collaboration with the YCHS science department.

Turner Research Grant to conduct field work using stable carbon isotopes to look at landscapes in Eocene Wyoming.

April 2018

Turner Research Grant to collect specimens from a species reliant on high precipitation (Thuja plicata) across a wide MAP gradient in the Pacific Northwest, from the Olympic Peninsula and western Oregon through to western Montana and Idaho.

Geological Society of America Research Grant to collect specimens of Populus tremuloides across a wide elevation, precipitation, and temperature gradient in the American Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah) including from the largest and oldest living aspen organism in Fishlake National Forest.

Rackham Pre-Candidate Research Grant to explore techniques in leaf-wax separation and deuterium isotopes with Dr. Michael Hren at the University of Connecticut.

January 2018

Analytical and modeling training program for pCO₂ reconstructions through NSF OCE-16-36005 to Bärbel Hönisch and Pratigya Polissar to explore methods in CO₂ reconstruction using isotopes and stomatal morphology with Dr. Dana Royer at Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut).

April 2017

Turner Research Grant to collect specimens of four different Thuja species on one Platycladus from collection facilities and native locations in China across climate and tectonic ranges.

June 2013

Voss Environmental Stewardship Fellowship to conduct research in Luquillo Experimental Forest and Dr. Stephen Porder's Terrestrial Biogeochemistry laboratory.

Meetings

Stein, R., Smith, S. Y., Sheldon, N. D. (2019, December) Refining the Use of Stable Carbon Isotopes in Terrestrial Forest Ecosystems to Reconstruct Climate. In AGU Fall Meeting 2019. AGU.

Smith, S. Y., Johnson, J. E., Levin, N. E., Dick, G., Munson, J., Arbic, B. K., & Stein, R. (2019, December). Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion initiatives in Earth Sciences at the University of Michigan. In AGU Fall Meeting 2019. AGU.

Sheldon, N. D., Smith, S. Y., Stein, R., & Ng, M. (2019, December). Carbon isotope ecology of gymnosperms and implications for paleoclimatic and paleoecological studies. In AGU Fall Meeting 2019. AGU.

Stein, R., Sheldon, N. D., & Smith, S. Y. (2018, December). Using Historical Isotope Chemistry to Look at Modern and Future Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts.

Stein, R., Smith, S. Y., Sheldon, N. D. Variable leaf chemistry response to rising pCO₂ and paleo-implications. Green Life Symposium (Ann Arbor, Michigan), September 2018. Poster Presentation.

Stein, R., Smith, S. Y., Sheldon, N. D. The need for taxonomic certainty in the use of ¹³C/¹²C values to reconstruct paleo-atmosphere. European Paleobotany and Palynology Conference (Dublin, Ireland), August 2018. Oral Presentation.

Stein, R., Smith, S. Y., Sheldon, N. D. The need for taxonomic certainty in the use of ¹³C/¹²C values to reconstruct paleo-atmosphere. Midcontinent Paleobotanical Colloquium (Athens, Ohio), June 2018. Oral Presentation.

Stein, R., Smith, S. Y., Sheldon, N. D. The use of stable carbon isotope values in leaves to reconstruct mean annual precipitation in the fossil record. Michigan Geophysical Union (Ann Arbor, Michigan), May 2018. Poster Presentation.

Stein, R., Smith, S. Y., Sheldon, N. D. Stable isotope ecology and paleoclimate implications of modern Thuja plicata in the Pacific Northwest. GSA Annual Meeting (Seattle, Washington), October 2017. Poster Presentation.

Stein, R., Smith, S. Y., Sheldon, N. D. Stable isotope ecology of modern Thuja occidentalis and paleoclimate implications. Midcontinent Paleobotanical Colloquium (Ann Arbor, Michigan), May 2017.