Darcy McRose

Darcy McRose is the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their research bridges microbial ecology and biogeochemistry to study how secondary metabolites influence nutrient cycling and plant growth in soils and sediments.

• BS, Stanford University (Earth Systems, 2008)
• MS, Stanford University (Earth Systems, 2011)
• PhD, Princeton University (Geosciences, 2018)

McRose Lab uses multidisciplinary approaches combining bacterial genetics, mass spectrometry, and field experiments to investigate microbial chemical tools like antibiotics and siderophores. Current projects focus on redox-active metabolites, phosphorus bioavailability, and rhizosphere dynamics.

Key research trends include microbial nutrient acquisition strategies, chemical ecology of root-soil interactions, and isotopic signatures in nitrogen fixation. Recent work connects laboratory findings to environmental nutrient cycling through controlled field validation.

• Maseeh Excellence in Teaching Award (2025)
• Sloan Foundation Research Fellow in Earth System Science (2025)

As a principal investigator, McRose leads a research group studying microbial communities in agricultural and natural ecosystems. Their field experiments integrate bench-scale discoveries to test hypotheses about macronutrient cycling and microbial community organization.