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
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Graduate Research Assistant, University of Southern California, Marine and Environmental Biology Dept. (2017-)
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Planetary Protection Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group (2016-2017)
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Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group (2015-2016)
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Undergraduate Research Assistant, Occidental College, Biology Dept. (2013-2016)
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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
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Frasassi Caves, Italy microbiological and geochemical sample collection (2019)
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International Geobiology Course (2018)
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MBARI Western Flyer deep-sea sample collection (2017)
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Spaceward Bound bacterial soil crust sample collection, Mojave Desert (2015)
PUBLICATIONS
Journal paper
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Amend, JP, Aronson, H.S., Macalady, JL, LaRowe, DE (2020). Another chemolithoautotrophic metabolism missing in nature: sulfur comproportionation. Environmental Microbiology, 22(6), 1971-1976. (LINK)
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Merino, N, Aronson, H.S., Bojanova, D.P, Feyhl-Buska, J.L, Zhang, S, Giovannelli, D. (2019) Living at the extremes: extremophiles and the limits of life in a planetary context. Frontiers in Microbiology (LINK)
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Seuylemezian, A., Aronson, H.S., Vaishampayan, P.A. (2018). Identification of bacterial isolates collected from spacecraft and associated surfaces using MALDI-TOF MS. Frontiers in Microbiology. (LINK)
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Aronson, H. S., Zellmer, A. J., & Goffredi, S. K. (2016). The specific and exclusive microbiome of the deep-sea bone-eating snail, Rubyspira osteovora. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. (LINK)
Posters
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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.
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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.
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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
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Aronson, H.S. and Amend, JP (2018). Using thermodynamics to streamline the search for novel microbial metabolisms. C-DEBI Annual Meeting
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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.
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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.
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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
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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).
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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).
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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).
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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
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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
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CSP New Investigator, Joint Genomics Institute (2020)
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NCKRI Scholar Fellowship, National Cave and Karst Research Institute (2019)
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Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology, American Philosophical Society (2019)
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NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2018-2021)
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Outstanding Student Presentation Award, American Geophysical Union (2018)
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NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, honorable mention (2017)
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Honors and Distinction in Biology, Occidental College (2016)
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Phi Beta Kappa (2015)
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Raymond M. Selle Memorial Award, Occidental College Dept. of Biology (2015)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
USC Teaching experience:
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BISC 120: Organismal and evolutionary biology (2017)
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BISC 221: Advanced cell biology and physiology (2018)
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Biology Teacher, C2 Education (2016)
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Teaching Assistant, Occidental College (2014-2016)
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Biology Tutor, Scientific Scholars Achievement Program, Occidental College (2015-2016)
MEMBERSHIPS
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American Society for Microbiology
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American Geophysical Union
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Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI)
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Alpha Chi Sigma Professional Chemistry Fraternity
2010 - present
2010 - present