Ocean sciences graduate student to compete in Grad Slam on May 10

UC Santa Cruz ocean sciences graduate student Rachel Harbeitner compete in the systemwide Grad Slam competition, 10:30 a.m. on May 10 in San Francisco.

The competition will be live-streamed (https://gradslam.universityofcalifornia.edu) and broadcast on the Kerr Hall screen in the second floor lobby.

Harbeitner, a fifth-year Ph.D. student, is studying deep-sea microbes that consume stored-up carbon in the world’s oceans, making them an essential part of ocean ecology, as well as global atmospheric conditions. She is part of a team that undertook experiments on the ocean floor, studying how long it takes for these bacteria to gobble up carbon in the bodies of dead plankton. Her presentation is “Tiny Carbon Eaters of the Deep Sea.” Her presentation from the campus Grad Slam is available below.