Sarah Monica

 I am a first-generation college graduate originally from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Having grown up in a region repeatedly impacted by environmental disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, I developed a deep curiosity about Earth's climate system and a commitment to the communities most vulnerable to climate change. In 2020, I earned my Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University, where I majored in Earth and Environmental Science and minored in Sustainability Studies and Art History. While at Vanderbilt, my passion for climate science grew, but I deeply missed the ocean and coast. In 2020, I began graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi, where I earned my Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Marine Science (Geological Oceanography) in 2025, supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. I currently work as a Postdoctoral Associate in Sedimentology at the University of Southern Mississippi at the John C. Stennis Space Center campus. 

As a sedimentologist, I primarily use sediment cores to study the environmental and climatic conditions of the past, largely during the Holocene (the last ~12,000 years). Because the instrumental record of climate is short relative to the timescales over which Earth's climate persists, it is important to extend climate records beyond our written and instrumental archives to obtain a more holistic view of the climate system. A large facet of my work, known as paleotempestology, works to reconstruct past tropical cyclone (TC) activity. It draws on grain size analysis and radiometric dating; however, I often employ X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), paleoclimate data assimilation, inverse sediment transport modeling, and microfossil (foraminifera) analysis to bolster sedimentological interpretations. 

My work currently spans two ocean basins: the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and the Western North Pacific (WNP). In the GOM, I published a ~4,500-year record of hurricane impacts in the western Gulf near central Texas in the journal Marine Geology, and I am currently working to publish a ~4,000-year record of hurricane impacts at Dauphin Island, Alabama. In the WNP, I am beginning lab work for a Late Holocene record of typhoon impacts near Pohnpei, Micronesia. I have an additional study site near Bohol, Philippines, where XRF, paleoclimate data assimilation, and stable isotope analysis of foraminifera are being used to reconstruct ~1,000 years of sea surface temperature and environmental change for the region. 

In short, I am interested in studying past climate patterns with the goal of improving future projections, work that is especially urgent under anthropogenically accelerated climate change. As I continue to grow as a researcher, I hope to expand the global network of paleotempestological records to better understand tropical cyclone tracks and climate teleconnections, while developing my mentorship skills as I prepare to seek assistant professor positions following my postdoc(s). If you are interested in collaborating or want to connect, don't hesitate to reach out.