Education
Expected 2024: 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
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, 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
Publications
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., 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 (δ18O and δD) of surface water. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.
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
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
Organizer, Communications Workers of America Local 1104
2020 – Present
Graduate Student Liaison
Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University
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 Organizations
International Society of Nonbinary Scientists
2021 – Present
Geological Society of America
2019 – Present
American Geophysical Union
2018 – Present