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Heidi Aronson

 

E-mail: haronson@usc.edu

Address: University of Southern California, Department of Earth Sciences

3616 Trousdale Parkway, AHF 105

Los Angeles, California 90089-0740

RESEARCH POSITIONS

 

  • Graduate Research Assistant, University of Southern California, Marine and Environmental Biology Dept. (2017-)

  • Planetary Protection Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group (2016-2017)

  • Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group (2015-2016)

  • Undergraduate Research Assistant, Occidental College, Biology Dept. (2013-2016)

  • Student Independent Research Intern, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group (2013-2014)

EDUCATION

 

University of Southern California, Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography, NOW

 

Occidental College, B.A. in Biology, Magna Cum Laude, Minor in Chemistry, 2016

FIELD EXPERIENCE

 

  • Frasassi Caves, Italy microbiological and geochemical sample collection (2019)

  • International Geobiology Course (2018)

  • MBARI Western Flyer deep-sea sample collection (2017)

  • Spaceward Bound bacterial soil crust sample collection, Mojave Desert (2015)

PUBLICATIONS

 

Journal paper

Posters

  • Aronson, H.S., Macalady, J, and Amend, JP (2019). Sulfur comproportionation and sulfur disproportionation in the karst of Frasassi, Italy? American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco CA.

  • Aronson, H.S. and Amend, JP (2019). Searching for a thermodynamically-predicted novel microbial metabolism in the sulfidic karst caves at Frasassi, Italy. Southern California Geobiology Symposium, Pasadena CA.

  • Aronson, H.S., Barnes, B.D, Johnson, B.R, Zawaski, MJ, 2018 International Geobiology Course Participants, Magyar, J.S, Sessions, A.L, Orphan, V.J, Fischer, W.W (2018) Geochemical and genomic characterization of a microbially-mediated sulfur cycle in Santa Paula Creek, CA. American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Meeting

  • Aronson, H.S. and Amend, JP (2018). Using thermodynamics to streamline the search for novel microbial metabolisms. C-DEBI Annual Meeting

  • Schubert, W.W., Aronson, H.S., Vaishampayan, P.A. (2016) Identification of spacecraft-associated microorganisms using MALDI-TOF MS. American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Annual Meeting. 

  • Aronson, H.S. (2015) Characterization of the microbiome of the deep-sea bone-eating snail genus Rubyspira. Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research (SCCUR) poster session, Los Angeles CA. 

  • Aronson, H.S., Jacobs, J., Jefferson, A., Tan, J., Schubert, W.W., Vaishampayan, P.A. (2015) Strain-level identification of spacecraft-associated microorganisms using MALDI-TOF MS. Southern California American Society for Microbiology Annual Meeting poster session, La Jolla CA. 

Presentations

  • Aronson, H.S., Macalady, J, LaRowe, DE, and Amend, JP (2019). A novel sulfur catabolism ‘missing in nature’. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA (Invited).

  • Aronson, H.S., Macalady, J, LaRowe, DE, and Amend, JP (2019). Sulfur comproportionation: another microbial metabolism missing in nature. UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation Seminar Series (Invited).

  • Aronson, H.S., Macalady, J, LaRowe, DE, and Amend, JP (2019). Sulfur comproportionation: another microbial metabolism missing in nature. Jet Propulsion Laboratory Origins and Habitability Lab, Pasadena, CA (Invited). 

  • Aronson, H.S., Macalady, J, LaRowe, DE, and Amend, JP (2019). Sulfur comproportionation: another microbial metabolism missing in nature. USC Women in Science and Engineering STEM Bytes Seminar

  • Aronson, H.S., Goffredi, S.K. (2016) The specific and exclusive microbiome of the deep-sea bone-eating snail, Rubyspira osteovora. Southern California Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting, Los Angeles CA. 

AWARDS AND HONORS

  • CSP New Investigator, Joint Genomics Institute (2020)

  • NCKRI Scholar Fellowship, National Cave and Karst Research Institute (2019)

  • Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology, American Philosophical Society (2019)

  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2018-2021)

  • Outstanding Student Presentation Award, American Geophysical Union (2018)

  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, honorable mention (2017)

  • Honors and Distinction in Biology, Occidental College (2016)

  • Phi Beta Kappa (2015)

  • Raymond M. Selle Memorial Award, Occidental College Dept. of Biology (2015)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

 

USC Teaching experience:

  • BISC 120: Organismal and evolutionary biology (2017)

  • BISC 221: Advanced cell biology and physiology (2018)

  • Biology Teacher, C2 Education (2016)

  • Teaching Assistant, Occidental College (2014-2016)

  • Biology Tutor, Scientific Scholars Achievement Program, Occidental College (2015-2016)

MEMBERSHIPS

 

  • American Society for Microbiology

  • American Geophysical Union

  • Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI)

  • Alpha Chi Sigma Professional Chemistry Fraternity

2010 - present

2010 - present

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