Supervisor: Dr. Brian Branfireun, University of Western Ontario, London, ON

My undergraduate thesis involved characterizing soil and dissolved organic matter across seasonal and permafrost thaw gradients in the Old Crow Flats, Yukon, Canada. I found that dissolved organic matter more closely resembled terrestrial sources in the early season during the freshet, with a shift to autochthonous sources in the later season. I also found differences in the soil organic matter composition related to stage of permafrost thaw and recovery. This work was part of an ongoing research team involving the Vuntut Gwich'in First Nation, and Brock, Laurentian, Western, and Laval Universities.