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Photo credit: Nate Christopher at Fondriest Environmental

About Silvia Newell

Professor Newell has a Ph.D. in Geosciences from Princeton University.  Her dissertation focused on biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen in low-oxygen marine environments in Chesapeake Bay and the Arabian Sea.  For her post-doctoral work, first at Princeton and then at Boston University, she continued her exploration of the nitrogen cycle in the Sargasso Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and Cape Cod.  Currently, her work at Wright State focuses on nitrogen as a driver of harmful algal blooms. Her lab is currently funded by NSF, Ohio Sea Grant, and the Eppley Foundation to study nitrogen cycling in hypereutrophic Lake Erie (Ohio), Lake Okeechobee (FL), and Lake Taihu in China, as well as local research on the Great Miami River and small lakes.
Dr. Newell is currently the co-chair of the Great Lakes HABs Collaboratory, chair of the Collaboratory Nitrogen Working Group, and President of the Lake Erie Area Research Network. 

Professional History
2018-present    Associate Professor of Biogeochemistry, Wright State University
​2014-present    Assistant Professor of Biogeochemistry, Wright State University
2012-2014        NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Boston University

Education
A.B. Smith College 2004
M.A. Princeton University 2007
Ph.D. Princeton University 2010

Classes
Fall 
  • EES 4330/6330 Global Biogeochemical Cycles
  • EES 4780/6780 Environmental Sciences Seminar
Spring 
  • EES 4320 Environmental Microbiology
Summer
  • EES 4360/6360 Environmental Field Techniques (includes a weeklong field trip to Stone Lab on Lake Erie; see slideshow below)

Publications
  • Hoffman*, D.K., McCarthy, M.J., Newell, S.E., Gardner, W.S., Niewinski*, D. N., Gao*, J., Mutchler, T.R. (2019) Relative contributions of DNRA and denitrification to nitrate removal in Thalassia testudinum seagrass beds in coastal Florida (USA). Estuaries and Coasts
  • Hampel*, J.J., M.J. McCarthy, M. Neudeck, G.S. Bullerjahn, R.M.L. McKay, & S.E. Newell. (2019) Ammonium recycling supports toxic Planktothrix blooms in Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie: evidence from stable isotope and metatranscriptome data. Harmful Algae, 81, 42-52.

  • Newell, S. E., Davis, T. W., Johengen, T. H., Gossiaux, D., Burtner, A., Palladino, D., and M. J. McCarthy. (2019) Reduced forms of nitrogen are a driver of non-nitrogen-fixing harmful cyanobacterial blooms and toxicity in Lake Erie. Harmful Algae, 81, 86-93.
  • Hampel*, J. J., McCarthy, M. J. Gardner, W. S., Lu, Z., Xu, H., Guangwei Zhu, G., and S. E. Newell. (2018). Nitrification and ammonium dynamics in Lake Taihu, China: seasonal competition for ammonium between nitrifiers and cyanobacteria. Biogeosciences, 15(3), 733.
  • Slone*, L. A., McCarthy, M. J., Myers*, J. A., Hammerschmidt, C. R., and S. E. Newell. (2018). River sediment nitrogen removal and recycling within an agricultural Midwestern USA watershed. Freshwater Science, 37(1)
  • Gardner, W. S., Newell, S. E., McCarthy, M. J., Hoffman*, D. K., Lu, K., Lavrentyev, P. J., ... & Paerl, H. W. (2017). Community Biological Ammonium Demand: A Conceptual Model for Cyanobacteria Blooms in Eutrophic Lakes. Environmental Science & Technology, 51(14), 7785-7793.
  • Zheng, Y., Hou, L., Liu, M., Newell, S. E., Yin, G., Yu, C., ... & Wang, R. (2017). Effects of silver nanoparticles on nitrification and associated nitrous oxide production in aquatic environments. Science Advances, 3(8), e1603229. 
  • Newell, S. E., McCarthy, M. J., Gardner, W. S., & Fulweiler, R. W. (2016). Sediment Nitrogen Fixation: a Call for Re-evaluating Coastal N Budgets. Estuaries and Coasts, 1-13.
  • Paerl, H.W., Gardner, W.S., Havens, K.E., Joyner, A.R., McCarthy, M.J., Newell, S.E., Qin, B. and J.T. Scott. (2016). Mitigating cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms in aquatic ecosystems impacted both by climate change and anthropogenic nutrients. Harmful algae, 54, 213-222.
  • Newell, S.E., Pritchard*, K., and R.W. Fulweiler. (2016).Sediment nifH expression in a Temperate New England Estuary.  PeerJ, 4, e1615.
  • Paerl, H. W., Scott, J.T., McCarthy, M.J., Newell, S.E., Gardner, W.S., Havens, K.E., Hoffman*, D.K., Wilhelm, S.W. and Wurtsbaugh, W.A., (2016). It Takes Two to Tango: When and Where Dual Nutrient (N & P) Reductions Are Needed to Protect Lakes and Downstream Ecosystems. Environmental Science & Technology, 50(20), 10805-10813
  • Fulweiler, R. W., Heiss, E. M., Rogener, M. K., Newell, S. E., LeCleir, G. R., Kortebein, S. M., & Wilhelm, S. W. (2015). Examining the impact of acetylene on N-fixation and the active sediment microbial community. Frontiers in Microbiology, 6.
  • McCarthy, M. J., Newell, S. E., Carini, S. A., & Gardner, W. S. (2015). Denitrification Dominates Sediment Nitrogen Removal and Is Enhanced by Bottom-Water Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Estuaries and Coasts, 1-16.
  • Newell, Silvia E., Damien Eveillard, Mark J. McCarthy, Wayne S. Gardner, Zhanfei Liu, and Bess B. Ward. "A shift in the archaeal nitrifier community in response to natural and anthropogenic disturbances in the northern Gulf of Mexico." Environmental microbiology reports 6, no. 1 (2014): 106-112.
  • Newell, S.E., Fawcett, S. E. and B.B. Ward. (2013) Depth Distribution of Ammonia Oxidation Rates and Ammonia-Oxidizer Community Composition in the Sargasso Sea.  Limnology and Oceanography, 58: 1491-1500.
  • Hou, L., Zheng, Y., Newell, S., Liu, M., Zhou, J., Zhao, H., You, L., and X. Chen. (2013) Community Dynamics and Activity of Ammonia-oxidizing Prokaryotes in Intertidal Sediments of the Yangtze Estuary. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, AEM-03035.
  • Newell, S.E., Jayakumar, A. and B.B. Ward. (2011) Ammonia oxidation rates and nitrification in the Arabian Sea. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 25(4)
  • Bulow, S.E., Rich, J.J., Naik, H., Pratihary, A., and B.B. Ward. (2010) Denitrification exceeds Anammox as a nitrogen loss pathway in the Arabian Sea Oxygen Minimum Zone. Deep Sea Research I, 57: 384-393
  • Rhodes, A. L., A. J. Guswa, and S. E. Newell. (2010) Using stable isotopes to identify orographic precipitation events in Monteverde, Costa Rica. In: Mountains in the Mist: Science for Conservation and Management of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests. L. A. Bruijnzeel, J. Juvik, F. N. Scatena, L. S. Hamilton & P. Bubb (eds.) Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK
  • Ward, B.B., Devol, A. H., Rich, J.J., Chang, B.X., Bulow, S.E., Naik, H., Pratihary, A. and A. Jayakumar (2009) Denitrification as the dominant nitrogen loss process in the Arabian Sea. Nature 461:78-81
  • Bulow, S.E., Francis, C.A., Jackson, G., and B.B. Ward (2008) Sediment denitrifier community composition and nirS gene expression investigated with functional gene microarrays. Environmental Microbiology 10: 3057-3069
  • Guswa, Andrew J., A. L. Rhodes, and S. E. Newell (2007) Importance of dry-season orographic precipitation to the water resources of Monteverde, Costa Rica. Advances in Water Resources, 30:2098-2112
  • Rhodes, A.L., Guswa, A.J., and Newell, S.E. (2005) Seasonal variations in the stable isotopic composition of precipitation in the tropical montane forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica.  Water Resources Research 42, W11402
  • Green, W. J, Stage, B.R., Preston, A., Wagers, S., Shacat, J. and Newell, S. (2005) Geochemical Processes in the Onyx River, Wright Valley, Antarctica: Major Ions, Nutrients, Trace Metals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 69:839-850
  • Green, W.J., Stage, B.R., Bratina, B.J., Wagers, S., Preston, A., O'Bryan, K., Shacat, J. and Newell, S. (2004) Nickel, Copper, Zinc and Cadmium Cycling with Manganese in Lake Vanda (Antarctica). Aquatic Geochemistry 10:303-323
  • Shacat, J.A., Green, W.J., Newell, S. and DeCarlo, E.H. (2004). The Geochemistry of Lake Joyce, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Aquatic Geochemistry, 10:325-352