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Bio

Dr. Melanie Mayes is a Distinguished Staff Scientist and Ecosystem Processes Group Leader with the Environmental Sciences Division, and she is an Associate Editor with the journals Biogeochemistry and Frontiers of Soil Science. Melanie has a background in geology and contaminant hydrogeology. She designs experiments to build better models of natural processes, and is interested in diverse research at the intersection of water, minerals, solute chemistry, and biogeochemical cycling. Her research involves improving the representation of terrestrial soil processes in Earth system and process models, understanding the effects of urbanization on ecosystem resiliency, incorporating metagenomic information into nutrient cycling models, developing technologies to reduce mercury loading and methylmercury generation in surface and ground water systems, using advanced techniques such as neutrons to understand the interface of soil organic matter and minerals, and understanding how radionuclides interact with surface soils. In her spare time, Melanie hikes the wonderful southern Appalachian mountains with her partner and dogs. 

Awards

Melanie Mayes received the U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Award for the proposal “A Comprehensive Framework for Modeling Emissions from Tropical Soils and Wetlands”. In 2015, she was an Honoree of the Knoxville YWCA’s Tribute to Women. In 2014, she was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was also the 2011 recipient of the Stanley I. Auerbach Award for Excellence in Environmental Sciences from the Environmental Sciences Division at ORNL, the University of Tennessee Earth and Planetary Sciences Young Alumna Award, and was a past Associate Editor of Excellence by the Soil Science Society of America Journal.

Publications