People

Welcome new lab members!
Dr. Julie Weitzman, Abby Yancy and Camille Butkus!!

Emily M. Elliott, PI, Professor

C.V.
@nitrogenfixer
orcid.org/0000-0002-9653-1513
ResearchID

Emily earned her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Geography & Environmental Engineering (DoGEE) under the advisement of Grace S. Brush. From 2003-2006 she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the USGS, Division of Water Resources. She has been a Pitt faculty member since 2007 when she joined the Department of Geology & Environmental Science (formerly "Geology & Planetary Science"). She was promoted to the rank of "Professor" in 2019. She holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.

She is broadly interested in ecosystem ecology, and her research approach is multi-faceted and transdisciplinary, pulling from the fields of biogeochemistry, isotope geochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, hydrology, aquatic and terrestrial ecology, and geography. Emily teaches courses in Ecosystem Ecology, Science Communication, and Ecosystems: Land-Water-Atmosphere Interactions.

Emily is Director Emeritus (2017-2022) and co-founder of the Pittsburgh Collaboratory for Water Research, Education, and Outreach that bridges efforts in water research, governance, and action at the University of Pittsburgh. She is trained as a Science Ambassador through the National Academies of Sciences “Science & Engineering Ambassador Program” and the 2018 recipient of the American Geophysical Union’s Sulzman Award for Excellence in Education and Mentoring.

She is passionate about the importance of interdisciplinary geosciences for addressing sustainability challenges, advancing diversity and inclusion in the geosciences, community-engaged research, and science communication.

Mailing Address:
University of Pittsburgh
200 Space Research Coordination Center
4107 O'Hara Street
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260-3332
p: 412/624-8882
f: 412/624-3914
email: eelliott@pitt.edu

Current Lab Members

Dr. Julie Weitzman, Research Scientist, Lab Manager

Dr. Julie Weitzman joined the lab as a Research Scientist in August 2022. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Soil Science and Biogeochemistry under the advisement of Dr. Jason Kaye at The Pennsylvania State University. Her dissertation research focused on understanding the processes responsible for nitrogen transport and transformation across a range of ecosystems. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working with Dr. Peter Groffman through the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center, while based at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Julie investigated potential drivers of denitrification across multiple scales in agricultural soils within the USDA LTAR Network, as well as in forest soils that were part of an ice storm manipulation project at the Hubbard Brook LTER. She then served as an ORISE Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Integrated Stable Isotope Research Facility (ISIRF) of the USEPA’s Pacific Ecological Systems Division in Oregon. While there, Julie worked with Dr. J. Renee Brooks and Dr. Jana Compton to quantify the dual stable isotopes of water and nitrate in order to track water movement and elucidate the sources and transformations of nitrogen in soils and groundwater within the Willamette Valley. As a Research Scientist in the Pitt Isotope Tracers/Biogeochemistry Lab Julie’s interests broadly lie in understanding the physical, chemical, and biological processes responsible for nitrogen retention and loss in terrestrial ecosystems, and the streams and rivers that flow from them.

Abby Yancy, Ph.D. Student

Abby Yancey

Abby joined the Elliott Lab in Aug 2022 as a PhD student. She earned her B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Pittsburgh in 2021. Before joining the lab, Abby completed a post-baccalaureate position at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History funded by the NSF REPS program. Here she focused on the phenological change and strategies of the herbaceous layer in deciduous forests as well as launched a community science program at the museum’s nature center. Abby’s research focuses on ecosystem level biogeochemical and hydrological changes in upper Ohio River basin.

Camille Butkus, Ph.D. Student

Camille Butkus

Camille joined the Elliott lab in 2022 after receiving a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. Camille is interested in understanding biogeochemical cycles, particularly those relevant to soil and agricultural settings. As part of her research, she will be working with the Gilbertson and Little labs to test the effectiveness of a liposome encapsulated nitrogen fertilizer.

Kate Zidar, Ph.D. Student

Kate joined in the Elliott lab in September 2019 after working as an Environmental Planner with a professional focus on green infrastructure, resilience and communications. Kate earned a M.S. at the Pratt Institute in City and Regional Planning where she also taught for seven years. She was a founding member of the Stormwater Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.) Coalition, a policy think tank that figured centrally in establishing Green Infrastructure as a mainstream practice in New York City. She also began the North Brooklyn Compost Project, one of the many community garden-based efforts that ultimately "made the road by walking", preceding city-wide collection of organic waste in NYC. Kate's research interest focus on exploring the underlying biogeochemical processes of green infrastructure. She was awarded an Andrew Mellon Fellowship in 2019-20.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katezidar/

Elijah Hall, Ph.D. Candidate

Elijah Hall

Elijah joined the Elliott lab in 2019 following completion of a B.S. from Rochester Institute of Technology in Environmental Science in 2018. Elijah has a strong interest in examining human impacts to water resources- and a particular interest in understanding drivers of harmful algal blooms on inland rivers and reservoirs. He completed an internship with the Seneca Nation, Department of Environmental Protection where he helped promote more effective pesticide regulation on Seneca lands. In 2019-20, Eli was awarded a Andrew Mellon Fellowship. In 2021, Eli was awarded a NSF GRFP, as well as a HHMI Gilliam Fellowship in 2021 to support his dissertation research.