Curriculum vitae

Education

Expected 2025: Doctor of Philosophy, Geosciences
Stony Brook University

Bachelor of Science, Geology
Portland State University 2019

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Writing
Pratt Institute 2009

Research

Graduate Research Assistant
Clumped isotope paleoclimate records from Miocene soil carbonates, Turkana Basin, Kenya
The Henkes Lab
Stony Brook University Department of Geosciences
Fall 2019 – Present

NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates
Stable isotopes of surface water across Sauvie Island, Oregon
Portland State University Center for Climate and Aerosol Research
Summer 2018

Teaching

Guest Lecturer, Isotope Geochemistry
Stony Brook University Department of Geosciences
Spring 2023 & 2024

Guest Lecturer, Climate change and human evolution
Stony Brook University Department of Anthropology
Spring 2022 & 2023

Teaching Assistant, General Chemistry Recitation
Stony Brook University Department of Chemistry
Fall 2020

Teaching Assistant, Stratigraphy and Sedimentology
Stony Brook University Department of Geosciences
Spring 2020

Teaching Assistant, Geology Field School
Turkana Basin Institute and Stony Brook University
Fall 2019

Teaching Assistant, Field Geology
Stony Brook University Department of Geosciences
Fall 2019

Awards

Three Minute Thesis Finalist
Stony Brook University 2023

Distinguished Travel Award
Stony Brook University Graduate Student Organization 2022

Excellence in Teaching Award
Stony Brook University Department of Geosciences
2021

David E. King Field Work Award
Stony Brook University Department of Geosciences
2020 and 2019

Pieper Merit Award
Stony Brook University Graduate School
Fall 2019

Best Poster
Association of Engineering Geologists Oregon Chapter Student Poster Night
Spring 2019

Best Undergraduate Poster
Sigma Xi Columbia-Willamette Chapter Student Research Symposium
Fall 2018

Leadership

Peer Mentor Program Coordinator
Stony Brook University Department of Geosciences
2024 – Present

Graduate Seminar Coordinator
Stony Brook University Department of Geosciences
2023 – 2024

Organizer, Communications Workers of America Local 1104
2020 – Present

Graduate Student Liaison
Stony Brook University Department of Geosciences
2021 – 2023

Founding Vice Chair, Young Democratic Socialists of America Portland State University
2017 – 2018

Senator, Associated Students of Portland State University
Spring 2018

Professional Activities

Co-Convener, Exploring changes in climate, flora, and fauna of Africa through the Cenozoic
Geological Society of America Connects, Pittsburgh, PA 2023

Participant, Preparing for an Academic Career in the Geosciences
National Association of Geoscience Teachers Earth Educators’ Rendezvous 2023

Professional Organizations

International Society of Nonbinary Scientists
2021 – Present

Geological Society of America
2019 – Present

American Geophysical Union
2018 – Present

Publications

Saslaw, M., Yang, D., Lee, D., Poulsen, C. J., & Henkes, G. A. 2024. An Isotope Mass Balance Analysis of Evaporative Loss From Lake Turkana, Kenya Using δ18O and δD of Natural Waters. Water Resources Research, 60(6), e2023WR036076. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR036076

Jimenez, A., Bershaw, J., Saslaw, M., Gall, S., Rahalski, E. 2023. Evaluating the Efficacy of Manmade Canals at Maintaining Lake Habitats for Salmon and Birds Using Seasonal Variations in Isotopes of Meteoric Water. ESS Open Archive. https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.168926403.34465563/v1

Sousa, F.J., Cox, S.E., Hemming, S.R., Rasbury, E.T., Steponaitis, E., Hatton, K., Saslaw, M., Henkes, G., Princehouse, P., Vitek, N.S., Nengo, I. 2022. New Discovery of Oligocene Strata in the Topernawi Formation, Turkana County, Kenya. Frontiers in Earth Science, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.799097

Justine Modica, Mae Saslaw, John Klecker, Alex Miller, Surabhi Balachander, Jeremy Glover, and Glenn Houlihan. 2021. Graduate Student Workers on the Rise: A forum on graduate student organizing and the future of academic labor. Academe, 107(2).

Presentations

Saslaw, M. , Lee, D., Tweedy, R., Green, D., Uno, K., Poulsen, P., Henkes, G. 2024. Late Early Miocene Climate in the Turkana Basin, Kenya From Multi-Proxy Records and iCESM Results. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting. iPoster.

Pérez-Angel, L., Da, J., Flynn, A., Havranek, R., Novak, J., Romero, I., Saslaw, M., Zhu, F. 2024. A new compilation of terrestrial temperatures during the Miocene. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting. Abstract.

Stiles, E., Novak, J., Mitsunaga, B., Hare, V., Saslaw, M., Rugenstein, J., Beck, C., Jukar, A., George, S., Lee, D., Strömberg, C., Uno, K., Vetter, L., Zhu, F. 2024. Global Terrestrial Hydrologic Change Since the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum: A New Compilation of Hydroclimate Proxy Records and Implications for Future Change. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting. Abstract.

Saslaw, M., Munoz, A., Stinchcomb, G., Minya, A., Shedroff, S., Esber, R., Batlay, A., Liutkus-Pierce, C., Miller, E., Beck, C., Feibel, C., Henkes, G. 2024. Paleoenvironmental Interpretations of Stable Isotopes From Miocene Pedogenic Carbonates with Diagenetic Calcite Components. 9th International Clumped Isotope Workshop, Stony Brook University. Poster.

Saslaw, M., Stinchcomb, G., Shedroff, S., Minya, A., Liutkus-Pierce, C., Miller, E., Beck, C., Feibel, C., Henkes, G. 2024. Soil carbonates reveal paleoenvironments characterized by hot temperatures and C3 vegetation in the late Early Miocene, Turkana Basin, Kenya. Miocene Climate Workshop: Exploring New Directions in Miocene Earth System Connections, University of Arizona. Poster.

Saslaw, M., Lee, D., Poulsen, C., Liutkus-Pierce, C., Stinchcomb, G., Shedroff, S., Beck, C., Feibel, C., Miller, E., Henkes, G. 2023. Insights from ~17 Ma soil carbonate stable isotopes and GCM results in the Turkana Basin, Kenya. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 55, no. 6. https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2023AM-394790

Mengesha, M., Bedaso, Z., Beverly, E., Cerling, T., Henkes, G., Quade, J., Rogers, M., Saslaw, M., Semaw, S., Levin, N. 2023. Assessing water stress using triple oxygen isotopes in soil carbonates in the Awash and Turkana regions of eastern Africa during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 55, no. 6. https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2023AM-394817

Esber, R., Stinchcomb, G., Beck, C., Mana, S., Batlay, A., Minya, A., Saslaw, M., Beverly, E., Feibel, C., Henkes, G. 2023. Paleoenvironmental reconstuction of Locherangan, a Miocene fossil bearing locality, Turkana Basin, Kenya. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 55, no. 6. https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2023AM-394251

Batlay, A., Stinchcomb, G., Rowan, J., Beck, C., Saslaw, M., Henkes, G. 2023. Exploring post-depositional processes in Late Miocene paleosols at Lothagam, Turkana Basin, Kenya. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 55, no. 6. https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2023AM-394334

Hatton, K., Rasbury, T., Henkes, G., Saslaw, M., Wooton, K., Hemming, S., Cox, S., Sousa, F., Rossie, J., Cote, S., Russo, G., Miller, E., Kappelman, J. 2023. Hydrothermal carbonates from Turkana, Kenya, preserve evidence of an unusual Middle Miocene thermal fluid pulse. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 55, no. 6. https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2023AM-395260

Bershaw, J., Jimenez, A., Greenwood, C., Petersen, N., Saslaw, M., Mygatt, C. 2023. Stable Isotopes of Modern Water (δ2H and δ18O) across the Pacific Northwest, USA: A Framework for Understanding Past, Present, and Future Climate. Goldschmidt Abstracts.

Saslaw, M., Liutkus-Pierce, C., Stinchcomb, G., Shedroff, S., Uno, K.T, Tweedy, R., Beck, C., Feibel, C., Miller, E., Henkes, G. 2022. Soil carbonate clumped isotope temperatures and paleoenvironmental interpretations from the Miocene of the Turkana Basin, East Africa. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 54, no. 5. https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-382365

Stinchcomb, G., Liutkus-Pierce, C., Beck, C., Saslaw, M., Shedroff, S., Minya, A., Winget, M., Tweedy, R., Rowan, C.M., Mana, S., Feibel, C., Henkes, G., Uno, K.T. 2022. Early Miocene climate and landscape change inferred from paleosols at Loperot, West Turkana, Kenya. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 54, no. 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-383126

Saslaw, M., Henkes, G., Beck, C., Liutkus-Pierce, C., Feibel, C., Rowan, C.M., Boyd, M. 2021. Middle and Late Miocene paleoclimates from clumped isotopes of soil carbonates, Turkana Basin, East Africa. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm21/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/860934

Jimenez, A., Bershaw, J., Gall, S., Saslaw, M. 2021. Using Isotope Tracers of Meteoric Water to Investigate the Effects of Hydraulic Restoration on Water Flux Across a Large River Island. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021AGUFMPP15B0919J/abstract

Jimenez, A., Bershaw, J., Gall, S., Saslaw, M. 2021. Investigating the effects of hydrologic restoration on water flux across Sauvie Island, Oregon. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 53, no. 6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/abs/2021AM-369977

Henkes, G., Saslaw, M., Feibel, C. 2020. Persistent warmth in the Turkana Basin, Kenya, from the Late Miocene until present day. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020AGUFMPP0010015H/abstract

Hatton, K., Rasbury, T., Henkes, G., Saslaw, M., Wooton, K., Sousa, F., Cox, S., Steponaitis, E., Hemming, S.R., Cote, S., Northrup, P., Nengo, I., Present, T., Princehouse, P., Rossie, J.B., Tappero, R. 2020. U-Pb Dating of Oligocene-Miocene Petrified Wood Carbonates from the Turkana Basin, Kenya. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020AGUFMPP0080015H/abstract

Mae Saslaw and John Bershaw. 2018. Mixing of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers across Sauvie Island, Oregon based on stable isotopes (δ​18O and δD) of surface water. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.

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