About me

Current position

I am currently working as a Contract Researcher with Dr. Richard Matear at CSIRO (Australia's National Science Agency). The goal is to produce ocean transport matrices from the standard output of CMIP models to be used for a cross-model evaluation of the feasibility of marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR) as part of CSIRO's CarbonLock Future Science Platform.

I am also an Adjunct Fellow the School of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney.

Research interests

I spend most of my time thinking about the fascinating mechanisms that drive the cycles of carbon, nutrients, and oxygen in the global ocean. To improve our understanding, I build numerical models of tracers in the ocean. This requires engaging with a diverse range of research fields including biology, geology, chemistry, and physics, and deep knowledge of advanced mathematical and computational tools. My education as a mathematician and engineer helps me to develop new ideas and methods to tackle challenging questions in ocean sciences. When possible, I also spend time developing open-source packages.

An overarching theme of my research is the interplay between the ocean's circulation and biogeochemical tracers. Understanding the transport of nutrients is critical because they sustain all life in the ocean, and their distributions are predicted to respond dramatically to climate change. This includes macronutients like phosphate and nitrate, but also trace metals such as iron, nickel, or cadmium. I am thus naturally interested in tracers of ocean circulation, such as neodymium, because they inform us on the ocean's past circulation patterns. In my latest research, I have been working on the response of the oxygen and carbon cycles to climate change. The future of the oxygen cycle is another critical issue because our warming climate is driving the ocean to lose its oxygen, which is essential for marine life, with direct impacts for global food security.

I firmly believe that scientists have a duty to make sure we understand our environment well enough to prepare for its abrupt change and prevent the worst outcomes. I commend my fellow sea-going oceanographers, who play a crucial role in this pursuit by providing us with an ever-growing set of observational data. As a mathematically inclined oceanographer, I am committed to contribute to that endeavour by putting all my energy towards answering the critical science questions posed by our changing environment and towards educating the next generation of scientists that will eventually take over. Despite my expertise, which continuously exposes me to the grim outlook of climate change, I am regularly amazed by the scientific discoveries that we make and the positive outcomes that we can achieve. I remain scientifically fascinated by the complex interplay between the ocean, biology, and climate, and I look forward to making a difference by working alongside wonderful collaborators.