Memphis Jane Hill
PhD Candidate
I am a PhD Candidate at the University of Pittsburgh working with Dr. Dan Bain. My thesis focuses on legacy metal pollution in roadside lakes and the microbial communities in these lake sediments. I use radiometric dating of lake core sediments to reconstruct the history of metal contamination and metal ratios to decipher the relative contributions of industrial sources and roads/vehicles to trace metal accumulation. I also use molecular biology and genomics techniques to explore the microbial communities in metal contaminated sediments with the goal of identifying biomarkers of road contaminated ecosystems. By identifying such ecosystems, those most heavily impacted and/or most needed for freshwater resources can be targeted for infrastructure upgrades to reduce metal loadings from roads.
Research Interests
My research interests include; water quality, microbial interactions with the soil, water, and atmosphere, and human impacts on the environment. I plan to tackle the issue of scaling molecular findings to landscape-level models. I believe that understanding ecosystem processes and long-term impacts of human activity on the environment requires both a zoomed in and wide lens perspective. I hope to continue expanding my research technique toolbox so that I can ultimately run a research lab that integrates molecular biology, geochemistry, ecology, and geographic information systems datasets. I have experience in all of these fields, but I know there is always more to learn.
Publications
M. Hill, et al. "Pond Sediments Reveal the Increasing Importance of Road Runoff as a Source of Metal Contamination in Industrialized Urban Environments Downwind of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA)." ACS ES&T Water. (2023)
D. Bain, et al. "The Effects of Subsidence Resulting from Underground Bituminous Coal Mining in Pennsylvania (2013 – 2018)." Bituminous Mine Subsidence and Land Conservation Act, Act 54 Amendments, 5th Five-Year Report. (2019)
M. Winstead, et al. "Decreased gamma-delta T-cell diversity in pediatric patients with acute graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic stem cell transplantation", Accepted, Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. (2018)