About the Masiello Lab
The Masiello Lab - We develop new tools to understand the cycling and fate of biogeochemically relevant elements in the Earth system, and we apply these tools to both fundamental and applied problems related to water, energy, climate, and life on Earth. We are particularly interested in building tools that are scalable from microns to kilometers. Measurement scalability is essential because micron-scale organisms living in highly spatially and temporally heterogeneous environments are major controllers of our climate system.
Our newest gadgets are our teams of "spies and bloggers," soil microbes synthetically modified to report back to us on their decision-making in lab experiments. Other long-time favorite tools include solid state NMR, radiocarbon and stable isotope analyses, XPS, FTIR, pycnometry, and all kinds of microscopy.
We particularly enjoy collaborating with business partners to solve real-world problems related to climate, energy, and the environment.
Rice University is a private research university located in the heart of Houston, Texas. Faculty, students and scientists in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences conduct both academic and applied research at the forefront of the rapidly evolving fields of the Earth sciences.
Dr. Masiello is a professor in the Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences since 2004 and is jointly appointed in the departments of Chemistry and Biosciences. Since 2023 she is also the director of the Rice Sustainability Institute. Applied aspects of the Masiello group work include new approaches to nature-based CO2 removal, including biochar, soil carbon amendment, marine CDR. Theoretical aspects of the Masiello team’s work include new approaches to measuring and valuing carbon permanence in the Earth system as well as synthetic biology tools in climate management. She is committed to creative teaching and outreach designed to make science accessible to everyone. Dr. Masiello holds the W. Maurice Ewing Chair at Rice, is a Faculty Scholar at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.