Brett Walker

Brett Walker received his PhD in Ocean Sciences in 2010 from the University of California, Santa Cruz (USA). He spent two years as a post-doctoral scholar at the UC Irvine, Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Lab. He continued his research at UCI as Project Scientist and as an Associate Researcher before joining the University of Ottawa as an Assistant Professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences. In 2018, he was awarded a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Accelerator Mass Spectrometry and Marine Biogeochemistry. His lab group, the Marine Organic Geochemistry group, is focused on the biogeochemical cycling of marine carbon and nitrogen on modern to millennial timescales. They use stable isotopic (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) measurements coupled with high-precision radiocarbon dating (¹⁴C) and novel analytical chemistry tools to constrain the cycling and transformation of the ocean’s major carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) reservoirs. They are particularly interested in understanding how marine microbes transform detrital organic matter, ultimately allowing for atmospheric C to be stored in the deep ocean.