robert spencer

FSU researchers named Fellows of American Association for the Advancement of Science

A chemical engineer developing more environmentally friendly materials and a geologist exploring the chemistry of Earth’s carbon reservoirs are the latest Florida State University faculty members to be named Fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS. Rufina Alamo, the Simon Ostrach Professor of Engineering and a distinguished research professor of […]

FSU Research: Hidden source of carbon found at the Arctic coast

A previously unknown and significant source of carbon just discovered in the Arctic has scientists both marveling at a once overlooked contributor to local coastal ecosystems and concerned about what it may mean in an era of climate change. FSU researcher Robert Spencer co-authored a study that showed evidence of undetected concentrations and flows of […]

Beneath the Ice: FSU researchers find newly uncovered Arctic landscape plays important role in carbon cycle

As the ice sheet covering most of Greenland retreats, Florida State University researchers are studying the newly revealed landscape to understand its role in the carbon cycle. FSU researchers Anne Kellerman, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, and Associate Professor Robert Spencer explored the composition of dissolved organic carbon […]

Ice sheets underpin core elements of the Earth’s carbon cycle

Scientists once believed that the ice sheets covering about 10 percent of Earth’s land surface were frozen wastelands, devoid of life and with supressed chemical weathering — irrelevant parts of the Earth’s carbon cycle. Now, a world-leading international team including researchers from Florida State University and the University of Bristol have pulled together a wealth […]

FSU oceanography professor receives prestigious early career award

Florida State University Associate Professor of Oceanography Robert Spencer has received the Yentsch-Schindler Early Career Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography for his significant contributions to our understanding of global biogeochemical processes. The annual award, initiated by ASLO in 2012, honors early career aquatic scientists who have made outstanding contributions […]

Sunlight or bacteria? Scientists investigate what breaks down permafrost carbon

A Florida State University researcher is delving into the complexities of exactly how permafrost thawing in the Earth’s most northern regions is cycling back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and further fueling climate change. Answer: It has a lot to do with tiny little bugs called microbes and little to do with sunlight. Assistant […]