Ryan Glaubke is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University. His research primarily focuses on the Southern Ocean—the vast expanse of ocean surrounding Antarctica—and how changes in its circulation helped pace the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations approximately 20,000 years ago as Earth exited the Last Ice Age. To that end, Ryan analyzes the geochemical signature of sand grain-sized microfossils called “foraminifera” preserved within marine sediments at the bottom of the ocean. The chemistry of these shells carry fingerprints of ocean conditions in which the organism lived, and so these microfossils, buried in layers of mud, preserve a chronological history of ocean change spanning thousands of years into the past.
Originally from Virginia Beach, Ryan attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, where he earned his bachelors and masters degrees in Ocean and Earth Science before continuing his eduction at Rutgers University. In his free time, you can find Ryan hiking, running, surfing, reading, or supporting his favorite soccer club.