Dreux Chappell

Dr. P. Dreux Chappell is a marine microbial ecologist and an assistant professor at Old Dominion University that uses interdisciplinary approaches to study the interplay between phytoplankton dynamics and ocean chemistry. An overarching theme that connects her research is: what forms of nutrients are biologically available to ocean phytoplankton, some of the most important primary producers on the planet? She use a suite of molecular biological tools and analysis of trace metal and macronutrient concentrations in seawater to link biological activity and chemical distributions in controlled laboratory settings and in the field. She uses these tools to answer broad questions about the environmental factors that control phytoplankton distributions and productivity. She has a B.A. in Biology from Amherst College, spent a semester of college in Woods Hole studying environmental science at the Marine Biological Laboratory while attending Amherst, and has a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Chemical Oceanography.