- Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Research Interests
- Environmental microbiology; estuarine ecology; water resource management; bioaerosols; water and air quality
Education
- Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton, 2005
My laboratory group studies environmental microbiology, with specialization in urban ecology and water resource management. Research topics include the ecology of sewage-associated microbes in the coastal environment, the response of microbes to aquifer acidification, trace gas production in urban waterways, and the aerosolization of bacteria from polluted waterways. We utilize a broad spectrum of tools including environmental sensors, bacterial cultivation, and molecular genetics to gather data to test experimental hypotheses and to characterize environmental condition.
Recent Publications:
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O’Mullan, G.D., M.E. Dueker, K. Clauson, Q. Yang, K. Umemoto, N. Zakharova, J. Matter, M. Stute, T. Takahashi, and D. Goldberg. 2015. Microbial succession and stimulation following a test well injection simulating CO2 leakage into a shallow Newark Basin aquifer. PLoS ONE 10(1): e0117812. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117812
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Afshinnekoo et al. 2015. Geospatial resolution of human and bacterial diversity with city-scale metagenomics. Cell Systems 1:1-15 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2015.01.001.
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Yang, Q., J. Matter, M. Stute, K. Umemoto, K. Clauson, M.E. Dueker, G.D. O’Mullan, T. Takahashi, N. Zakharova, D. Goldberg. 2014. Groundwater hydrogeochemistry in injection experiments simulating CO2 leakage from a geological storage reservoir. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. 26:193-203.
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Dueker, M.E. and G.D. O’Mullan. 2014. Aeration remediation of a polluted waterway increases near-surface coarse and culturable microbial aerosols. Science of the Total Environment. 478:184-189.
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Young, S., A. Juhl, and G. O’Mullan. 2013. Antibiotic resistant bacteria in the Hudson River Estuary linked to wet weather sewage contamination. Journal of Water and Health. 11(2):297-310.
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Dueker, M.E., G. O’Mullan, A. Juhl, K. Weathers,. and M. Uriarte. 2012. Local environmental pollution strongly influences culturable bacterial aerosols at an urban aquatic superfund site. Environmental Science and Technology 46(20):10926-10933.