Laura Haynes

Laura Haynes is an Assistant Professor of Earth Science at Vassar College, holding the Mary Clark Rockefeller Chair. Her research focuses on investigating climate and ocean changes through geological time using foraminifera, single-celled marine organisms with calcium carbonate shells. She explores carbon cycling during past warm periods and modern foraminifera distributions in the Hudson River Estuary.

Education: BA from Pomona College, followed by MA, MPhil, and PhD from Columbia University. At Vassar since 2020, she teaches courses on the Earth's fluid systems (oceans/atmosphere), mass extinctions, and biogeochemistry.

Research Interests: Climate change mechanisms, ocean circulation dynamics, and the role of foraminifera in paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Her work integrates geochemical analysis, isotopic proxy development, and field studies in remote marine environments.

• Key Projects: NOAA-funded study of past ocean carbon cycles, NSF-equipped SEM/EDS lab for microscale analysis, and Hudson River estuary biodiversity surveys.
• Awards: NOAA Climate Research Grant ($480k), NSF instrumentation grant (SEM acquisition).
• Advisees: Mentors URSI students in climate science projects, including analyses of South Pacific fossils from 50-million-year-old sediments.
• Labs/Teams: Leads collaborative efforts with Kirsten Menking and Jeffrey Walker on SEM-based geochemical research.
• Labs/Teams: Manages the Vassar SEM facility for high-resolution microfossil analysis.

Her recent work highlights rapid anthropogenic carbon release's unprecedented scale compared to natural volcanic events, emphasizing urgency in climate action.