alumni reception - Syracuse Universe Department of Earth Sciences ...

Meet the Department’s Newest Faculty Member
Dr. Zunli Lu
Returning to up-state New York as a faculty member at SU is unexpected for me, but this only adds a
great amount of excitement to this new job. During my PhD study at the University of Rochester, I interacted
with both faculty and former students
in the SU Department of Earth Sciences
and all of the happy memories do make
me feel that I am coming back home. I
look forward to the formal start of my
career at SU in January 2011!
My interests in ocean chemistry,
crustal fluids, global climate changes,
and the carbon cycle will guide my
research projects in the near future. I am
currently investigating how the global
ocean became oxygen-depleted during
Mesozoic climate warming (Oceanic
Anoxic Events). It will be an important
part of my research activities at SU to
understand oceanic redox changes in
the context of climate and evolution.
Zunli Lu standing in front of Oxford University and the Ghost Forest: tree
stumps that traveled from Ghana to Oxford.
To make this and other lines of research
possible, SU has generously agreed to
set up a state-of-the-art clean lab and to
provide funds for purchasing an ICP-
MS. Both facilities are good additions to the current strength of geochemistry in our department, particularly
the new TIMS in Scott Samson’s lab.
Teaching is as valuable as research. I will teach Aqueous Geochemistry and will be happy to teach
other classes related to climate and
oceanography. In all of these courses, I
will emphasize the connections between
sub-disciplines of Earth Sciences as
much as possible. Like many other
scientists, I benefited from this type of
training in terms of stimulating research
ideas and interests. More importantly, it
helped me to learn the delicate balances
ubiquitously present in the natural
environment where we all reside.
I am actively preparing for a
smooth set-up of the lab and teaching
with lots of fun in January. When I wrote
on Facebook that I plan to move to
Syracuse in the New Year, someone said
to me:”are you nuts?” No, not really.
I know what a Syracuse winter is like,
but I also know the department will be
warm!
Zunli at the ICPMS Lab at Oxford