Location
Paige 411

Mailing Address
Stockbridge School of Agriculture
402 Paige Laboratory
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003

Dr. Naughton’s group studies how soil chemical and physical attributes affect microbial activity, particularly the turnover of key nutrients like carbon and nitrogen.  Soil varies in key qualities such as nutrition or moisture over very short spatial scales, like within a forest stand or agricultural plot.  Our group studies the extent of this variation, how it changes the environmental living conditions experienced by soil microbes, and how microorganisms respond through their community composition and metabolisms.  This work relates to terrestrial nutrient cycles, (greenhouse) gas fluxes from soils, and healthy soils and ecosystems. 

Our current research foci include:

  1. Forest disturbance effects on carbon inputs to and gas emissions from soils
  2. Soil health outcomes from drought-tolerant dual purpose summer cover crops
  3. Drivers of anoxic microsites within upland soils, and impact on predicting soil gas fluxes

Courses taught:

  1. Agricultural Chemistry (STOCKSCH 117)
  2. Introduction to Soil Science (STOCKSCH 105)

Curriculum Vitae

Assistant Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry

Education

Ph.D.   Earth System Science, Stanford University, 2020
Thesis: “Drivers of carbon cycling within soils: The interplay between microbial diversity and soil chemistry”
Committee: Scott Fendorf (Advisor), Anne Dekas, Christopher Francis, and Marco Keiluweit

M.S.     Conservation Ecology, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, 2014
Thesis: “Does phylogenetical diversity predict competitive outcomes in freshwater green algae communities?”
Committee: Bradley Cardinale (Advisor), Vincent Denef, and Donald Zak

B.S.      Chemistry & Biology, The College of William & Mary, 2012
Summa Cum Laude; Departmental Honors in Chemistry: “Potential of PRODAN derivatives as chemosensors of the microacidity of cyclodextrin host-guest complexes”

Professional Experience

2023                 Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Stockbridge School of Agriculture, Amherst, MA

2021 – 2023     NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Berkeley, CA

2017, 2019       Program Assistant, Summer Undergraduate Research in Geoscience and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

2015 – 2018     Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Soil Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

2013                 Graduate Student Instructor, Chemistry of Carbonyl Compounds, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

2011 – 2012     Teaching Assistant, Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry I, and Physical Chemistry II labs, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA

Honors & Awards

2020                 NSF Division of Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship, Lawrence Berkeley Lab

2018                 Certificate of Achievement in Mentoring, Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences

2017 – 2018     Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Northern California Chapter

2015                 McGee & Levorsen Research Grant, Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sci.

2013                 Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), National Science Foundation

Publications

  • Lacroix, Emily, Meret Aeppli, Kristin Boye, Eoin L. Brodie, Scott Fendorf, Marco Keiluweit, Hannah R. Naughton, Vincent Noël, and Debjani Sihi. “Consider the anoxic microsite: Acknowledging and appreciating spatiotemporal redox heterogeneity in soils and sediments.” In revision, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry. (Submitted for Peer Review)
  • Naughton, Hannah R., Bradley Tolar, Christian Dewey, Marco Keiluweit, Peter Nico, and Scott Fendorf. “Iron, Not Fungal Community, Strongly Contributes to Phenol Oxidative Potential in Floodplain Soils.” Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 2023, 178: 108962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.108962
  • Fox, Patricia M., Cam Anderson, Christian Dewey, Marco Keiluweit, Mark Conrad, Hannah R. Naughton, et al. Sulfur Biogeochemical Cycling and Redox Dynamics in a Shale-Dominated Mountainous Watershed.” JGR: Biogeosciences, 2022, 127 (6): e2021JG006769. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006769
  • Naughton, Hannah R., Marco Keiluweit, Malak M. Tfaily, James J. Dynes, Tom Regier, and Scott Fendorf. “Development of Energetic and Enzymatic Limitations on Microbial Carbon Cycling in Upland Soils.” Biogeochemistry, 2021, 153 (2): 191-213.
  • Naughton, Hannah R., Marko A. Alexandrou, Todd H. Oakley, and Bradley J. Cardinale. "Phylogenetic Distance Does Not Predict Competition in Green Algal Communities." Ecosphere, 2015, 6 (7): 1-19.
  • Naughton, Hannah R. and Christopher J. Abelt. “Local Solvent Acidities in β-Cyclodextrin Complexes with PRODAN Derivatives.” Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2013, 117 (12): 3323-3327.
  • Green, Amy M., Hannah R. Naughton, Zachariah B. Nealy, Robert D. Pike, and Christopher J. Abelt. “Carbonyl-Twisted 6-Acyl-2-dialkylaminonaphthalenes as Solvent Acidity Sensors.” Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2012, 78 (5): 1784-1789.

Professional Activities

2022                 Session Convener, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Biogeosciences Division: “Biogeochemical Cycling in the Critical Zone: From Genomes to Ecosystems”

2022                 Runner-Up, Lawrence Berkeley Lab Annual BioEPIC Virtual Research SLAM, Berkeley, CA

2022                 Invited Speaker, Enviro-Lunch Series, University of California, Merced, CA

2021                 Invited Speaker, Workforce Development & Education Internship Program, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, CA

2021                 SAGE (Science Accelerating Girls’ Engagement in STEM) Guide, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, Berkeley, CA

2020                 Session Convener, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Biogeosciences Division: “Ecosystem Scale Implications of Pore-Scale Redox Heterogeneities in Soils”

2019                 Organizer & Speaker, Stanford Ph.D. student guest lectures on soils and environmental health to Biology students of Campbell Union High School, San Jose, CA

2018                 Invited Speaker, Department of Energy Environmental System Science PI Meeting, Potomac, MD

2017                 Student Travel Award Poster Presentation, Department of Energy Environmental System Science PI Meeting, Potomac, MD

Presentations

  • Topography Trumps Plant Functional Type in Predicting Meadow Soil Biogeochemistry – A Modeling Boon. Oral presentation, AGU Fall Meeting, Chicago, IL. 12 December 2022.
  • Thermodynamic and Kinetic Limitations on Soil Carbon Respiration in Floodplains and Associated Wetlands. Oral presentation, SSSA International Soils Meeting, San Diego, CA. 08 January 2019.
  • Organic Matter and Electron Acceptor Chemistry Jointly Determine Soil Carbon Decomposition Pathways in situ. Poster presentation, Goldschmidt, Boston, MA. 13 August 2018.
  • Metabolic Constraints of Organic Matter Mineralization and Metal Cycling During Flood Plain Evolution. Poster presentation, DOE TES-SBR PI Meeting, Potomac, MD. 01 May 2018.
  • Natural Organic Matter Mineralization and Metal Cycling during Floodplain Evolution. Invited talk, DOE TES-SBR PI Meeting, Potomac, MD. 01 May 2018.
  • Microbial metabolic constraints on carbon cycling in upland soils. Poster presentation, Joint Genome Institute User Meeting, San Francisco, CA. 14 March 2018.
  • Microbial Transformations of Minerals, Metals and Organic Matter: Impacts on Contaminant Dynamics and Carbon Storage. Oral presentation, 2017 International ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Annual Meeting, Tampa, FL. 23 Oct. 2018.
  • Metabolic Constraints on Carbon Oxidation Impacting Metal Cycling and Greenhouse Gas Production. Student travel award poster, DOE TES-SBR PI Meeting, Potomac, MD. 25 April 2017.
  • Microbial preference for soil organic carbon changes along redox gradients as a function of the energetic cost of respiration. Poster presentation, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. 15 December 2016.
  • Predicting microbial preference for soil organic matter along a redox gradient based on respiration energetics. Poster presentation, Environmental and Molecular Sciences Laboratory Integration 2016: Multiscale Ecosystems Analysis & Design, Pacific Northwest National Lab, Richland, WA. 12 September 2016.
  • Energetic limitations on microbial respiration of organic compounds using aqueous Fe(III) complexes. Poster presentation, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. 16 December 2015.
  • Phylogenetic distance cannot predict relative competitive ability across phyla in green algae communities. Poster presentation, Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Portland, OR. 20 May 2014.
  • Can evolution help us prioritize species conservation?  Oral presentation, School of Natural Resources & Environment Capstone Symposium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. 11 April 2014.

Professional Development

  • Scientific Leadership and Management Skills course participant, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 2023
  • Rising Environmental Leaders Program in Washington, D.C., Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, March 2019
  • Teaching and Learning of Science (Stanford EDUC 280), taught by Gloriana Trujillo & Carl Wieman, 2019
  • SURGE & SESUR Mentoring Workshop, Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, 2018
  • Mentor Training for High School student summer internship program, Stanford Earth, 2017
  • Effective Scientific Presentations and Public Speaking (Stanford GEOPHYSICS 250), taught by Rod Stein, 2015
  • Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning TA Training, Stanford, 2015
  • Microbial Diversity Short Course, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, 2014

Mentoring

2022 – 2023      Annie DiGuiseppe, Sponsored Projects for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) student

2021 – 2022      Angela Zablocki, Sponsored Projects for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) student

2018                 Jody Resnick, Ignited Fellow

2018                 Romain Screve, Stanford Earth Summer Undergraduate Research program

2017                 Howard Tang, Stanford Earth Young Investigator program

2016                 Nakoa Farrant, Stanford Undergraduate Research in Geoscience and Engineering scholar

2016                 Sadie Cwikiel, Stanford Earth Summer Undergraduate Research program