Mae Saslaw | Climate Research

Headshot with the Brooklyn Bridge

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in The Earth Commons at Georgetown Univeristy. I use stable isotope geochemistry to answer questions about past and present climate, analyzing waters, carbonate rocks, and biogenic materials, and combining measurements with models to better understand environmental processes. Climate history repeats itself, and past analogues inform our forward modeling. My research aims to refine interpretations from complex stable isotope proxy systems, and develop models of present-day stable isotope systematics that can inform water resource management decisions.

Stable Isotope Hydrology

schematic diagram showing lake water, wind, raindrops, clouds, and a thermometer — Evaporation modeling using measurements of oxygen and hydrogen in Lake Turkana, Kenya and Oregon, USA

Soil Carbonate Geochemistry

as SEM image of a soil carbonate sample with spots highlighted — Clumped isotope paleothermometry and novel methods for analyzing diagenetically altered samples
(*in prep*)

Miocene Paleoclimate

a landscape photo from the Turkana Basin showing red paleosol units on sandstone hills — Collaboration on new terrestrial proxy compilation efforts for hydroclimate and temperature reconstructions