A Gut Feeling
Naomi Gilbert started out as an undergraduate student at James Madison University, where she initially found her passion for environmental microbiology. Inspired by her research mentor there, she decided to come to UT for her PhD.
As a part of Professor Steven Wilhelm’s lab, Gilbert was involved in collecting sampling microbes in the open ocean, then using a combination of molecular and computational tools to characterize what microbes are in the ocean, what they do, and how nutrients impact them.
“In undergrad I did some freshwater cyanobacteria work, but Dr. Wilhelm told me about this project that had to do with marine microbiology, and that’s what got me: the prospect of flying to another country and field sampling the open ocean,” said Gilbert, who specialized in examining the phytoplankton, viruses, and bacteria that infect microbes in the ocean to understand how they impact the ocean’s nutrient cycle, and in turn the global carbon cycle.
“Primary productivity is one of the main mechanisms by which the ocean actually takes up carbon dioxide and exports it to the deep ocean,” Gilbert said. “My contribution was showing that there’s certain nutrients limiting the growth of microbes in the southern ocean, which contribute to primary productivity”
When she first started out, what fascinated Gilbert about the work she was getting to do was the computational analysis and integration of travel – also known as field work, which has extensive preparations.
“The travel might be three weeks total, but months before we’re planning the logistics of all of this,” Gilbert said. “It’s time consuming and tedious, but it was nice to have something to look forward to while you were analyzing your data.”
Gilbert began her undergraduate degree with the goal of pursuing medicine, but shifted gears when she discovered her true passion.
“Not restricting yourself is important. If you get that gut feeling that you want to change course to something you’re more passionate about, it’s better to commit sooner rather than later,” Gilbert said.
Environmental microbiology remains a major interest for Gilbert, and she hopes to continue studying it in her postgraduate work. She thoroughly enjoys the computational analyses she gets to do and hopes to move from the field-based research she is used to into the realm of culture-based lab work.