Shawnee Traylor
USA
PhD student in chemical oceanography
Shawnee is dedicated to improving the way we study chemistry in the environment. She currently works at the interface of chemical sensing and biogeochemical cycling, employing a diverse set of technologies to make long-term observations of the marine carbon cycle. Prior to starting her PhD in a joint program between MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Shawnee completed her undergraduate studies in environmental chemistry at Columbia University (2018) and worked as a field research assistant in Antarctica. Her undergraduate research at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory focused on environmental sensing and carbon capture, ranging from applications in urban air and water quality in New York City, the carbon dynamics of Omani aquifers, and the resiliency of Panamanian coral reefs.
Despite being a native Californian, her years spent in and out of rural Iceland carved a special place in her heart for polar environments. This has inspired her current projects focusing on using autonomous vehicles to study methane emissions in the Arctic and the deep-mixing subpolar North Atlantic's ability to sequester carbon dioxide on climate-relevant timescales.
Shawnee is also interested in public outreach through data-driven art. Recent projects include a collaboration with Ennead Architecture Lab and serving as the Science and Technology Advisor to the New York-based nonprofit +Pool for the launch of a floating public art installation as a real-time indicator of water quality in the East River. Away from the lab, she loves acrobatics and sailing away her lifelong phobia of the ocean.