This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award, funded under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), provides $180,000 to support a postdoctoral fellowship project. The project aims to test the use of the "triple oxygen" isotope method as a proxy for detecting changes in water availability and aridity across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) period, approximately 55 million years ago. The project will analyze fossil teeth and pedogenic carbonates from the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming to evaluate whether the triple oxygen isotope data can detect a shift in aridity during the PETM interval. If successful, this new proxy could enable more spatiotemporal reconstructions of ancient terrestrial water availability, which could inform climate change adaptation planning. The project also includes science outreach programs through the University of Michigan to increase student engagement in Earth science, particularly among diverse groups. The award period runs from August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2026.
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