https://www.oceanexpert.org/expert/bwawrik

PhD

Research

Biological Oceanography, Marine Ecology
7
Pollution

I hold a full time tenured academic position in a microbiology department where I teach courses in cell biology, microbial physiology and genetics, and marine microbiology.  My research typically involves interfacing with an interdisciplinary group of researchers in order gain a holistic understanding of microbial processes in both natural and engineered systems.  My currently funded research projects target the impact of climate change on agricultural soils, nitrogen transformation in marine systems, bio-energy, microbial degradation of hydrocarbons, bio-informatics, bio-corrosion, microbiome research, and systems biology.

Gulf of Mexico
North Atlantic Ocean

Marine Science; Microbiology; Marine Biotechnology; Genomics and Genome Analysis; Transcriptomics; Bioinformatics; Microbial Ecology; Microbiome; Molecular Biology; Scientific Writing; Grant Writing; Environmental Science; Systems Biology; Biodegradation; Statistics; Six Sigma; Multi-collaborator Projects; Experimental Design; Scientific Project Management; Microbial Metabolism and Biochemistry; Supercomputing and Big Data Analysis (Biology); Biofuels; Soil Microbiology; Antibiotic Resistance; Stable Isotope Probing

English
German

Google Scholar
ResearchGate

http://mpbio.ou.edu

SOME KEY ACOMPLISHMENTS AND PROJECTS IN CURRENT POSITION

 ·      earned national and international recognition for my research program

·      10 external grants totaling >$6 million (6 as PI, 4 as co-PI)

·      contributed to discovery of genetic basis for anaerobic alkane degradation

·      successfully led software development team to deploy bioinformatics analysis tool

·      first to develop nitrogen-based stable isotope probing technology for use in marine systems

·      discovered simultaneous organic and inorganic nitrogen utilization by marine cyanobacteria

·      contributed to the current understanding of methanogenic paraffin bio-degradation

·      generated comprehensive analysis of microbial processes involved in coal-bed methanogenesis

·      served as chief scientist of oceanographic research expedition

·      developed tool to quantify algal lipid production

·      conducted studies of steel bio-corrosion

·      directed a range genomic, metagenomic, and transcriptomic studieS