New Postdocs Join Scripps 

Scripps welcomes three new faces to the Scripps Postdoc Scholar Program

Scripps Institution of Oceanography/University of California, San Diego

The institutional postdoc program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego continues to bring fresh, young talent to bolster the Scripps research enterprise. Postdocs are recent Ph.D. graduates who play critical roles as experienced, productive members of Scripps research teams.

Scripps' continued institutional funding for these positions is notable because postdoctoral employee recruitment is typically funded entirely by the scientists who seek them, diverting support money from already limited research budgets.

“Supporting recruitment of bright young minds to strengthen Scripps’ scientific contributions to society and the environment remains a top priority,” said Scripps Director Tony Haymet. “Postdocs play an increasingly vital role in our institution’s research advances.”

Scripps’ newest institutionally funded postdocs are Manfredi Manizza, who works with Ralph Keeling in biogeochemistry; Jeremy Goldbogen, who works with John Hildebrand and Paul Ponganis in biological oceanography; and Yoshihiro Kaneko, who works with Yuri Fialko in geophysics. Each new recruit is bringing new energy and ideas to the ocean and earth science research being conducted in their Scripps labs.

Manizza is studying how greenhouse gases from the atmosphere are absorbed, circulated, and released in ocean water, particularly in the Southern Ocean. His research is providing insight into how the movement of gas-enriched seawater in this area may affect climate as a system and also influence CO₂ sequestration technology, with which some countries hope to limit global warming by forcing the gas into chambers beneath the earth’s surface.

As part of the Hildebrand and Ponganis research teams, Goldbogen is measuring heart rate in blue whales. His goal is to better understand why heart rates slow most when they are feeding, a particularly high-energy activity for these massive marine mammals. Goldbogen is a former Scripps graduate student and is happy to be returning to Scripps as a postdoctoral researcher.

“I'm excited to bring my expertise in organismal physiology back to Scripps and engage both biological and physical oceanographers alike,” said Goldbogen. “Scripps is one of the few institutions in the world where this type of interdisciplinary research can be done, especially on large aquatic vertebrates.”

Fellow Scripps postdoc Kaneko shares Goldbogen’s appreciation of Scripps’ interdisciplinary strengths.

“I am very excited about being a part of Scripps where a number of researchers from a variety of disciplines interact,” said Kaneko.

Kaneko is working with Scripps professor Yuri Fialko conducting observational and modeling research to better understand earthquake processes and seismic hazards to answer questions such as why small earthquakes become large. He was especially attracted to Scripps because his geophysics research focus fits well with that of other Scripps scientists also engaged in earthquake studies.

--  Shannon Casey

February 12, 2010