Tabitha's Research Project

Beginning in November of last year, Tabitha Cole, a GSP student, has been conducting environmental chemistry research with funding from GSP. Read about Tabitha's experience below!

“For the past year I have been able to gain chemistry research experience in the Dutta Lab, through Xavier University of Louisiana’s Gulf Scholar program. Throughout my time in the lab I have been able to learn how research is conducted and gain skills, which not only help me in my classes but furthermore, led me to want to apply to graduate school next fall. I currently conduct research concerning methane emissions and tea decay in Louisiana wetlands. We use the GT5000 Tera instrument, to get readings from the soil, about what gasses are present. Furthermore, we quantify decay rates by using the tea bag method, which measures mass loss after days of the teas being in the soil. Being a part of this work has motivated me to add onto this research, I recently proposed adding a humic acid component to our tea bag project. I plan to synthetically create a humic acid and see how that affects the decay rate in tea bags in various soils throughout the greater New Orleans area. Participating in this research has given me the confidence to become a more proactive thinker and I am grateful to Gulf Scholars for the opportunity.”