What Are They Doing?
The goal of this project was to identify active members of the McMurdo Dry Valley soil microbial community and determine their ecological role. Little is known about bacterial populations in the Dry Valley soils, but until it is understood which populations are active and what they do, it is impossible to understand the ecological role that bacteria play in ecosystem function.
Where Are They?
Latest Journals
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Egbert Schwartz is a soil microbiologist. He received his undergraduate degree in botany at Michigan State University, went on to complete a master's degree in cellular and molecular biology at the University of Michigan and a PhD in soil ecology at the University of California Davis. He specializes in using molecular biological techniques to characterize microorganisms in soil. Specifically, he investigates which microbial populations are growing and which microbial populations are dormant.
Dr. Schwartz has been active in science outreach to the local schools for about 10 years. He has done laboratory experiments with elementary school students in Flagstaff and in the Hopi nation, given presentations in high school classes and has trained both middle school and high school teachers by involving them in his laboratory research.