Sean Faulkner
Sean Faulkner is a M.Sc. candidate in the Geosciences Department at the University of Massachusetts. His research interests include environmental evolution, chemoautotrophy, geomicrobiology, sedimentology, and paleoclimatology. Specifically, his thesis is focused on museum-quality calcite-cemented sand concretions from the Moroccan Sahara, and whether or not the calcite cement and bizarre morphologies are a function of microbial mediation, making the samples microbialites. Selected samples are on display at the CosmoCaixa Museum of Natural History in Barcelona, Spain, where he and Dr. Margulis have been asked to aid in developing the exhibit. These studies are in collaboration with faculty from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and Universite Mohammed Premier Oujda (Morocco). For the past four years, Sean has assisted the Margulis lab with various projects and lab activities; since being matriculated as a graduate student in the Margulis lab in the spring of 2006, he has been both a research assistant (RA) and a teaching assistant (TA) for the lab, which has included designing, developing, and digitizing course material media, most notably the Digital Interactive Lecture Series (DIALS). Since 2005 Sean has coordinated the Extra Credit Program for the Biology 280: Evolution class taught by Dr. James Walker and Dr. Margery Coombs. Sean has received several scientific awards including the Elinor J. Fierman Memorial Award from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Geosciences Department in 2006, the National Science Foundation Science Teaching Education Program (STEP) Noyce Scholars Award in 2006, and the NASA Space Consortium Grant in 2006 and 2007. Sean holds a A.Sc. in General Science and a B.Sc. in Earth Systems Science.
Faulkner looks on with Dr. Margulis at an excavated sample from Erfoud, Morocco.
A sample of Moroccan “microbiolites”.
In addition to a life-long pursuit of trying to understand the natural world, Sean also plays the guitar, obsesses about Boston-based sports, participates in the PanMass Challenge and Plymouth Polar Bear Plunge fundraisers for cancer research, and enjoys time with friends and family, especially hiking with his girlfriend, Leigh, and their dog, Ruby. He plans to pursue a career in teaching and research.
Hiking with Ruby on Northfield Mountain at sunset .
